Return Trip
by Scarf Warriors
Summary: The Doctor and companion are drawn into the goings on of a sleepy seaside village, where the terrifying events of 1953 are being replayed... Then Torchwood turn up, and cause all sorts of chaos. Part of Flinch Hayward's Fourteen AU.
1. Chapter 1

**I've redone this chapter, due to the advice of CommaConcept and Flinch-Hayward, two excellent people.**

**However, you'll have to give it time - the first few chapters are unbeta'ed, and a bit rubbish, but it does pick up, I promise you. I'd been on a 2 year hiatus when I first wrote, so it took a while to get back into it. But give it a try. For anyone arriving at this fic from Flinch-Hayward's Fourteen series, this story is part of that - it follows on from the (currently unwritten) 'One Good Reason' episode in Jack's timeline, and from the (currently unwritten) fic 'Untitled' in 12's timeline. Yes, it IS called 'Untitled', and you'll see why, if I write it and if you read it. On with the tale - while painful, the first couple of chapters are necessary for the plot D=**

* * *

**Return Trip**

**The pretty seaside resort of Whortleby, England, 1953**

The mist rose in tendrils above the churchyard, as if the souls had finally freed themselves from their rotting hosts and were determinedly pushing for the safety of heaven. Ed smiled at the odd cliches his mind came up with.

He started as he caught a movement from the corner of his eye. Through the mist the young boy watched the outline of a hooded and cloaked figure slowing walking towards him, picking his way through the gravestones barring his path... but how he walked, more of a glide than a step... As the boy shifted slightly he felt a hand creeping its way up his arm. Stifling a shriek of alarm he threw himself backwards against the tombstone he was crouched behind and stared up into the soft brown eyes of his girlfriend. She giggled and threw herself down beside him.

"Don't fucking do that!" he hissed at her, brow creased in fury, but she ignored his anger.

"Lighten up, Ed," she whispered into his ear. "Why are you hiding from Mr Hegarty, he won't eat you. Well, probably not."

Embarrassed, Ed drew himself up and pushed her over into the leaves. Far from being annoyed at this, she brushed herself off, slipped her slim frame onto Ed's lap and gently kissed his nose.

"Would you like to come over to my place for tea, Mum's out and..." She first looked over her shoulder at Mr Hegarty's deadpan wizened face behind her, then down at the metal claws protruding through her abdomen. A drop of lifeblood slipped from her mouth, trickled down her chin and dripped onto Ed's cheek. He stared down at the broken body of his hopes, his dreams, his world, whilst his immature mind tried to process the raw data into something he could comprehend. This time nothing could stop the tortured shriek ripping from his throat, until a thud of steel against flesh, like a pan into rotten fruit, and he lay back, tasting the tang of iron and slipping back into merciful nothingness, as Mr Hegarty bent his head down to feed.

* * *

**The interesting scape of the TARDIS, Time Vortex, err, sometime.**

"WILL YOU STOP THAT BLOODY RACKET!" Nadrin yelled, storming into the console room with eyes full of the same sort of purpose and intent as a vegetarian in a abatoir.

"I'll have you know the mandolin is a very noble and beautiful instrument," the 12th Doctor murmured around his homburg hat, inexplicably in his mouth, eyes narrowed in concentration (not the hat). Nadrin watched as his fingers moved deftly over the fretboard, producing an eerie tinkling tune, much unlike the normal repertoire of the instrument. She sat down crosslegged on the floor before him and cocked her side to one side.

"How have you tuned that thing?" she enquired, cursing herself for a fool before the words had even left her lips.

"Ahawell, you'll be glad you asked that!" the Doctor said suddenly and enthusiastically, leaping the his feet. "It's tuned to the tradtional Erythraean tuning, used by the people of Erythrae, of course, such a thing is obvious, it consits of a fifth, followed by a single semi-tone, then an augmented fourth, it's rather crazy really, the most interesting thing about it is..."  
Nadrin had long since phased out, and was far more occupied in cleaning the grease from under her nails. The Doctor noticed after going through the history of Erythraean composition, and sat carefully back down, balancing the mandolin on his lap. He looked down at his latest companion.

She was certainly an odd one was Nadrin, she looked totally human, except for her bright piercing green eyes. A vivid lime green, they were almost hypnotising. As can often be expected of a hybrid being, she had an odd mixture of traits and characteristics, usually she was a very fiery and abrasive character, yet she could instantly become the softest, sweetest, most caring being known to time, usually when presented with something like a baby rabbit or something. Her intense attention to detail, fierce loyalty and swift, calculating mind had got them out of many a scrape, in the same way her exquisitely beautiful features and a tendency to kick like a mule had got them into many a scrape.  
The Doctor chuckled at this thought, and Nadrin looked up at him, having snapped out of her reverie. She rose gradually and stretched with a slight yawn as the Doctor checked their course at the console.

"Hm, I'd like to check up on some old friends on Earth, early 21st century, this okay with you, Naddy?" the Doctor asked without looking at her. She gently stamped her foot down on his, and after a pretend yelp of agony replied.

"I suppose so. Who are these friends?" she enquired, looking up at the Doctor with interest. He hadn't mentioned having friends on Earth before.

"Just some chaps from UNIT, I wish to see how they've been protecting the world in my absense." The Doctor smiled down at his companion's diminutive figure, and braced himself as the bump as the ship landed. He strode to the doors, flung them open, and took in the scene before him, the quintessentially English cottages, the sea, the sunlight filtering through the trees, and the accusing stare of Captain Jack Harkness.

"Ah."

* * *

Still dunno where tis going. See you in 2 years for the update. If you're interested the title is from a song by Electric Wizard, the one which sunk me into that state of despair. I'm sure it's obvious where I started to listen to ELP.


	2. Chapter 2

**AHA! 2 years have passed and I have returned! Unless my time machine messed up again...**

**Anyway. I don't believe this installment to be up to the (already low) standards of the previous chapter. This could be either to having never written for Torchwood before, or because Progressive Rock is less inspiring than Doom Metal. Either way, I did my best. Please R+R and help me improve.**

**Quick point: the Torchwood team used in this here story is lifted directly from Flinch-Hayward's fic Fourteen in the Torchwood section. Read it. Tis good. Now, on with the tale.**

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_The Aforementioned Churchyard, Whortleby, England, 1953_

"Ed? Ed? ED!" The sound carried on the night air, bourne on the gentle breeze like a feather, drawn towards waiting ears.

"Ed! Where are you? Are you hiding from me?" She continued to call his name, not knowing how hollow and empty her words sounded to the watcher in the shadows. "Grow up Ed! I know you're here son!" She stepped around the tombstones, her heels digging into the soft ground beside the path. Her step takes her fowards towards watching, hungry eyes.

"Ed...?" Worry creeps into her voice as she hears a sound, a creeping, dragging noise. Startled, she spins around.

"Oh, it's you Mr Hegarty!" she sighed, the relief evident in her voice. She grunts at an unexpected pain in the small of her back.  
Her vision blurs, and when it clears she finds herself looking up at the full moon, obscured behind the trees, slowly rising above the truimphant smile of Mr Hegarty.

* * *

_A Hill Overlooking the Sea, Whortleby, England, 2010_

"Ah." The Doctor swept his homburg hat onto his head and bowed slightly. A look of confusion flickered in Jack's eyes, but nothing more than a flicker.

"Doctor, I presume. How long's it been for you?" Jack grinned at the exasperated expression on the Doctor's face, yet failed to notice him sliding left and right, as if hiding something or someone behind him.

"Hmmm, quite a while. What you would call 7 years about matches up," the Doctor said, not quite looking at Jack and continuing his odd left to right shuffle.

"Too long then," Jack replied and looked over the Doctor's head into the TARDIS, with an almost wistful look. His attention was diverted as Ianto strode towards him, not noticing the new arrivals, nor their equipment, standing alongside Jack, him being too engrossed in fiddling with his PDA.

"Right, I've almost got a fix on..." Ianto tailed off, and looked questioningly at Jack.

"Ianto! Meet my good friend the Doctor. Doctor, this is Ianto, Head archivist and coffee boy extraordinaire!" Jack grinned again and drew Ianto towards him.

"Good friend is taking a bit far, shall we say 'mild aquaintance'. Well, that's to say, 'we've met'. Sort of. I've seen him before."

"We were engaged once," Jack said with a sidelong glance at Ianto, noting his expression.

"That was purely business!" the Doctor spat, not noticing the odd, envious glance Ianto threw at him. Jack suddenly grabbed the Doctor in a huge hug, whose cry of outrage was muffled by Jack's coat. Upon being released, the Doctor straightened himself out and adjusted his hat.

"Your, um, equipment is rather small," Ianto muttered, glancing up at the police box with almost a hint of disdain.

"You wouldn't say that if you knew him," Jack said with a wink. Ianto ignored this. The Doctor looked incensed.

"What's behind you that you don't want us to see?" Ianto enquired of the Doctor, causing Jack to look up suspiciously, both at Ianto's statement and the Doctor's involuntary yell of shock and pain. Nadrin pushed her way past him, apoplectic with rage.

"What the fuck was that?" Nadrin spat angrily at him, with a fury in her eyes akin to a Scotsman whose pint has been spilt.

"Language, Nadrin," the Doctor gently chided her. She drew herself up to her full, not very considerable height, preparing for an argument, but she wilted under the Doctor's stern stare.

"Sorry, Doctor," she murmured, hanging her head. She looked up at him when he didn't reply, to see the Doctor smiling ruefully at her. He tutted and gave her a gentle hug.

"Forgiven," he whispered. Nadrin smiled and broke away from the hug.

"I'm open to hugs if you want more," Jack said, arms spread.

"Touching," Ianto muttered. The Doctor looked at him in alarm, taking hold of Nadrin protectively.

"Not in that way!"

"Mr Harkness! Quick! It's happened again!" The voice floated up from the seafront, and Jack sighed.

"CAPTAIN HARKNESS!" Gathering his coat about him he strode off down the coastal path. Nadrin slipped from the Doctor's grasp and trotted after him.

"Who are you two anyway?" she asked, jogging slightly to keep up. Jack slowed his pace to match hers.

"We're Torchwood, protecting the Earth from all kinds of alien threat. Why, would you like a position? #69 is free, or you can join Ianto and be a missionary."

The Doctor winced as a jarring crunch of boot on shin rent the fresh sea air.

* * *

**I'll try to write some more, if you like, but I'm away on holiday soon. If I do finish this fic and the reception is good, or if mild interest is shown, then I may even write about how the Doctor met Nadrin, or how their short lived and rather painful engagement occurred.**

**Also, my good friend Flinch-Hayward and I are going to try and run our stories in parallel, which could yield some interesting results...**

**Well, I say good friend. More of an aquaintaince. That's to say, we've met. Sort of. I've seen her before.**


	3. Chapter 3

**So, I'm writing a bit to please the one person reading this. You have a special place in my heart, next to Megadeth and jelly babies.**

**A brief reminder about the origin of the Torchwood team I introduce here - I didn't introduce them. Flinch-Hayward did. I think it's better than the last chapter, but maybe rubbish seems more impressive when you've been awake for 21 hours. Try to enjoy it, I'm introducing some new ideas and concepts into the plot, where these will lead I haven't quite decided. I never do.**

**Quick note - don't read my past stories. They're rubbish, rude and will never been finished.**

* * *

_Back in 1953..._

The sun rose from behind the hills, illuminating the seaside of Whortleby as the villagers began their early morning routines. Mr Evans began to set out his stalls and boxes of fresh local produce outside his grocers shop. Mrs Bell arranged the flowers outside her florist. Mr Roberts began to collect his chicken feed from the store. Mr Hegarty began to extinguish the oil lanterns outside St James' church.

Just a normal day.

* * *

_Back in the present or near future... can't quite remember_

Jack strode into the village, albeit with a pronounced limp, his demeanor of fun having evaporated when duty began to call. Nadrin trotted after him, smug grin removed from her face by Jack's sudden serious manner, while Ianto and the Doctor followed at a more sedate pace. Nadrin started as an old fellow with a stick, cropped silver hair and wizened features hove into view, on the arm of a woman bearing an official looking nametag - Lois Habiba. Jack stopped suddenly, then sighed as Nadrin ran into his back. She sniffed at him haughtily and stepped out from behind him. Breathless, the old man shuffled towards them with an air of purpose and urgency, before slipping on some morning dew. He instinctively grabbed Nadrin for support, but she recoiled and left Lois to help him to his feet again.

"Who?" Jack asked simply, a frown spreading its way across his face. The old man didn't have enough breath in him to reply, and kept his head bent towards the ground, avoiding Jack's stern stare. Jack gave him a sudden shake, crouched down and stared up into the old man's face.

"WHO?" Jack's sudden shout almost caused him to topple over. Lois gently pulled him back to her, glaring at Jack, though he ignored her.

"Has he told you anything?" he asked Lois, continuing to pointedly ignore her disapproving glare.

"He won't speak to me. He demands that you or Ianto talk to him," Lois said, though hiding behind the calmness of her reply Nadrin picked out her frustration and resentment at this. Jack continued to stare into his aged face, still yielding no results. He only looked away when he heard Ianto and the Doctor finally arrive from up the path. The Doctor took the situation in at a glance, and picked a wrist-watch out of his pocket, along with a variety of other miscellaneous items. He noticed Lois looking at the watch, looking even more bemused than what his arrival had caused.

"Lost my fob-watch," he said with a wry grin, before tossing it back into his pocket.

"We should take him back to his cottage. He looks pretty traumatised," Lois pleaded to Jack. He deliberated for a while, before appearing to make a decision.

"Right, to his cottage, then coffee. Coffee's good..." He looked imploringly up at Ianto, who moved down to help Lois, unable to prevent his features registering a slight smile.

* * *

Upon reaching the rose adorned cottage they found Andy Davidson sitting on the garden wall, as if waiting at the door. He sprang to his feet upon the arrival of the others.

"What are you doing...?" Ianto asked, looking bemused.

"Well there was no-one in, so I've been waiting for someone to get home," he responded, confused at the exasperated faces on Jack and Ianto, and the random giggle from the newcomer in the homburg and cagoule. Jack diverted his attention by striding past him and unceremoniously shoving the foor open.

"It's not Cardiff, Andy. No-one locks their doors out here."

"They should when you're around," the Doctor muttered, more to Nadrin than Jack.

"Heard that."

* * *

Ianto carefully made his way into the sitting room, balancing several steaming mugs of coffee on a wooden tray. He set it down on the table before the others, who were gathered around the sofa. The old man had settled down now, yet he still kept his head bowed. Nadrin watched from the sidelines. Why was this man so important? Why was Jack so concerned about his information? And why hadn't she seen his face yet?

"Mr Hegarty, I really need you to tell me, who has it happened to this time?" Jack sat on the arm of the chair, purposefully taking a higher position over him to try and intimidate him into giving a quick answer.

"I've told once if I've told you a million times, call me Vincent, Mr Harkness." Jack actually managed a smile, even if it was more of a grimace.

"I've told you a million times, it's Captain Harkness." Mr Hegarty sighed, closed his eyes and sat up straight.

"Sarah Matthews." He sighed. "She would have been Kirsty's aunt." The Doctor watched as Lois and Andy's faces contorted with horror and dismay. He turned and looked at Nadrin - she was getting impatient, that much was clear to him.

"Will someone please tell me what is going on here!" she demanded, much to the Doctor's dismay - Nadrin didn't seem to understand delicacy and subtlety. Mr Hegarty opened his eyes, straighted his back and looked right at her.

"It's the same as 1953... It's all happening again. Though not as bad... not yet."

Nadrin caught none of this. She was more focused on his eyes.

Bright, Lime Green.

Eyes like those which could not be of this planet or time.

Eyes like her own.

* * *

**Thar we go. Another chapter done. Another mystery solved, another one created. I'll try and get another Chapter in for you tomorrow, but I can't promise anything. Then I'll be away in Wales (well that's not ironic) where I shall try and write some more, but I very much doubt I'll be able to upload anything for a week. Hope you enjoyed it... but even if you didn't, bloody review it. Even if it's 'That's was dull, won't read it anymore'. I neeeeed feedback, in the same way I need food and water and shelter. And sleep, for that matter. Night everyone... unless you're American, in which case it must be morning now. I'm rambling on and on and on as usual, didn't think I'd be doing that after being awake for so long. Anyway, bit of cake, bit more TV, then bed.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Argh, last chapter for a while. Nice to raise the number of readers to 3 =) I'll have to remove cricket and my balalaika from my heart in order to accomadate you. The 12th hour probably isn't the best time to update, but I said I would. Also, I noticed my mistake from yesterday that you couldn't have picked up on. Sarah Mathews would have been Kirsty's NEICE, not her aunt. I hope this chapter is clearer for you, though I must confess it's mainly dialouge. There may be historical, linguistic and physical inaccuracies, but since I didn't fly a fighter plane in world war two I hope you'll forgive me. I hope I've left it on a nice cliffhanger too =)**

* * *

_Whortleby Police Station, 1953_

Police Constable Hamish Oates looked up in alarm as Vincent Hegarty burst into the reception of his empty police station. Oates had taken the position offered to him in Whortleby immediately - a seaside village in the middle of nowhere practically, who's going to commit any crime? The average age of the population was 56, the wasn't even a primary school in the area. A quiet life, getting paid for pointing the few tourists the town received towards the seafront. Simple.

But this week, he found himself facing Vincent's prematurely aged face for the 4th time in as many days - which could only mean more deaths. He assumed the same had occured as to the others the days before - Mr Bradley the butcher on Wednesday. Mrs Jones the retired school teacher on Tuesday. Mr Greene the Sci-Fi fanatic and Milkman had started it on Monday - all of them found by the war memorial in the churchyard. All of them found with their heads practically severed, but not a single drop of blood remaining in the bodies, sucked completely clean. All of them found by Vincent Hegarty.

"Three." Vincent's terrified whisper brought PC Oates back to his senses. Something seemed to break within his stomach, and he let out a strange wheezing noise of distress.  
"Three..?!" Oates sat down hard onto his office chair, which squeaked in protest. "Who?"  
"Myrtle Blythe, her son Ed, his girlfriend Kirsty Matthews... She's - was - my wife's neice..." Vincent trailed off, tears beginning to trickle down his cheeks. He did nothing to stem the flow.  
"So young..." Oates automatically reached for the paperwork beneath his desk - life must go on. At least, until nightfall.

* * *

_Vincent Hegarty's Cottage, 2010_

The Doctor leapt up in surprise. He noted the look of confusion on the faces of the Torchwood team, and looked up to Jack. Although he said nothing, Jack could sense he was demanding an explaination.

"Andy, Lois, go. Make tea, buy ice creams, make sandcastes, don't care. But this is serious... We need to talk." Lois made as if to argue her corner, but Andy quickly took her by the arm and whisked her out of the cottage, never one to question or disobey an order in such a situation. The Doctor's stern and serious glance told Nadrin that this was not the time for a debate, she crossed her legs and remained silent. Vincent looked up at Jack and the Doctor's expressions, and began to rise. Jack placed a restraining hand on his shoulder.

"More coffee," Ianto said, breaking the silence, and leaving the edgy and difficult atmosphere behind him, albeit temporarily.

"What's the problem, Mr Harkness?" The gravity of the situation prevented Jack from reprimanding Vincent, and he let the Doctor begin.

"We'd better start at the very beginning." He cut across Vicent's attempted reply. "I mean the very beginning - not yours, but Nadrin's." Nadrin looked up in surprise, but wisely said nothing.

"I will not give the whole story." He paused again, to note his companion's grateful smile. "Nadrin is not human, Vincent, neither am I. Neither, I suspect are you. Not fully human anyway. At least, not now.

"Nadrin was born to a human mother who had fallen through time and space to Grixr III, in what you would know as the late 19th century. The race she encountered there, the Grixrans, were not developed sufficiently to be aware of other intelligent life - they did what could be expected. They experimented on her. In one such experiment they implanted the genes of a Grixran into one of her eggs, hence conceiving Nadrin. I arrived in time to prevent them experimenting on her too - her mother had passed away, the terror and exertions taking their toll."

The Doctor paused, and directed Ianto, who had arrived with coffee midway through the narative, to comfort Nadrin. She had drawn her knees up to her chin, fighting back tears. On a nod from her, the Doctor saw fit to continue.

"That explains her eyes - one of the few physical features she inherited from her alien parentage. But that doesn't explain you, Vincent. The Grixrans did not leave their galaxy until after you were born. When did your eyes become that colour?"

Vincent Hegarty stared at the floor for some time. Eventually he sighed.

"I'll start from the beginning too. In 1939 war was looming. I was drafted up to the Royal Air Force when I was 32, and-"

"32?! That would make you..."

"103, Doctor. Something's kept me in remarkably good shape. Anyway, in 1942 I was night-flying over France, when I picked something up. An enemy aircraft, tailing me. It was a very large craft, and I couldn't see it properly, just a shadow and noise... nothing like the noise of any plane I had heard before. I veered off left, but the enemy plane continued its course, continued to fly straight towards the sea, towards Britain. I set off in pursuit, a plane of that size could easy contain enough bombs to flatten the whole South-East in one go. I gave it 5 rounds rapid, which hit the underside and rear of the craft. Something ignited, and the plane immediately began to fall seawards. Just before it exploded a wave of energy was emitted from the front of the craft, it hit my plane full on, jammed the controls. I went into the sea after it. I was out of action for the rest of the war, and when I awoke in 1946, my eyes had turned from dark brown to vivid green - the doctors assumed the flash of the explosion had altered the pigments in my eyes."

The Doctor sat down on the floor, and rested his head on the arm of the sofa Nadrin and Ianto were curled up on. He banged his head hard on the chair, before turning back to Jack and Vincent. Jack had remained strangely quiet, but now he asked a question, the trepidation audible.

"What was that plane, Doctor?" The Doctor swallowed hard, had one last look at his companion, before returning his gaze to Vincent.

"That craft you shot down was no German plane. It contained the last surviving members of the Grixran race, fleeing the war that had devastated their home planet and galaxy, and that wave of energy was their last terrible vengeance."

* * *

**That's your lot for a while. Hope you enjoyed it as much as I did, it's nice to be writing again. If there is wi-fi access I'll update midweek, if not you'll have to wait until I make it to my grandparents next Sunday.**


	5. Chapter 5

So, I'm back from Wales, sort of. I'm still in Wales as I write this, and as I post this I'll actually be in Cornwall, so the only place I'm back to is THE INTERWEBS. So yes, I hope the last chapter made sense, I should really re-adjust my bodyclock, I cannot sleep before 1:30 in the morning, which is worrying as school is soon... Anyhow, I m writing this at night again, but it's a nice long chapter for you, twice the normal length. Joy!

* * *

_Whortleby, 1953, But You Know That Now_

This time Oates had all the paperwork ready, he was expecting Vincent's arrival. He duly arrived at 9, same time every day this week. But this time something was wrong - not that it wasn't wrong anyway. Something was even more wrong. Vincent stumbled in, tears streaming down his face, dripping from his chin and staining the nightshirt he had not yet removed. He collapsed into the corner and sobbed brokenly. Oates dashed around the desk and sank down next to the distraught man, sliding a thick arm around his shaking shoulders, straining his ears to catch what Vincent was trying to say. He caught but a few syllables, but was able to piece together his message.  
"No... not Sandra... surely?" When Vincent nodded shakily, Oates sat back. He didn't move for several minutes, frozen stiff, until he noticed he had begun to shiver.  
"They're picking my loved ones off one by one, my family, my friends... You're the only friend I have left, Constable."

* * *

_Whortleby, 2010, But You Know That Too_

Vincent could only mouth the words back to the Doctor. The vivid greeness of his eyes seemed to fade briefly, and he made an odd croaking noise. The Doctor continued.

"When you returned to England, Vincent, I'd bet my TARDIS that you became anaemic." The Doctor paused as Vincent nodded slowly. He could see he was finding this hard to accept.

"Nadrin has a similar problem. Much of the lifecycle of the Grixran race revolves around iron. She needs constant 'topping up', as it were - she ingests special tablets that I source from the same galaxy as Grixr, normal terrestrial iron tablets aren't sufficient - the ones you take probably aren't sufficient. Occasionally we have a little emergency, I remember when we had to break into a hospital one night, her iron levels were getting so dangerously low. We searched the hopsital for hours, we couldn't find anything. Eventually she was getting so ill we had to dip into the blood stores, plenty of iron in blood. I don't think she's forgiven me for-"

The Doctor spluttered suddenly and coughed. He forced himself to continue.

"The bodies... were they...?"

"The bodies were found without a drop of blood in them..." Ianto said, more to himself than anyone else. The Doctor sank back into his armchair. Nadrin sat bolt upright. Mr Hegarty fainted.

* * *

The sun had just passed its zenith, and was beginning its decent into the sea. Andy and Lois sat silently, consuming the ice cream cones Andy had bought, despite the fact that neither of them particularly wanted them. They both resented Jack leaving them out of the discussion, but they were new to the job, they had to expect it at first. From their vantage point at the top of the beach they watched as the tide slowly creeping up towards them, neither of them speaking, although had they spoke they would have revealed they were thinking the same thoughts. Lois threw her cone to the floor, where a mob of gulls set upon it. She sighed, stretched and leapt to her feet suddenly as she noticed Ianto behind them. Andy jumped up too, his hand instinctively touching the gun in his holster, but calmed when he too saw Ianto.

"Are you trying to give us bloody heart attacks?!" Andy exclaimed, whilst Lois just smiled, hiding the fact she was desperate to know what had been going on - yet she was to be disappointed.

"Jack says we've got to take Mr Hegarty back to Cardiff with us."

"But wh-"

"Now, we can't wait." They followed Ianto along the short path to where the SUV was parked - Jack was waiting for them there, while the Doctor and Nadrin waited beside a police box which had inexplicably appeared.

"That wasn't here earlier..." Lois said, indicating the police box with a nod of her head. The Doctor gave her a wide smile.

"It's my craft, we're taking it to Cardiff!"

"Well good luck with that," Lois said. "I'll think I'll take the car."

"Can I go in the car, Doctor? I've never been in a car before, please!" Nadrin gave the Doctor her sweetest smile, the Doctor chuckled and shut his eyes.

"Why? It's not at all exciting. At least, not compared to TARDIS, nothing is as exciting as the TARDIS. What's wrong with the TARDIS? Is it me?" The Doctor gave her a glum look. Nadrin gently kicked his shin, and he pushed her towards the SUV.

"One of you lot will have to come with me then," the Doctor chirped cheerily, pointedly not looking at Jack. "Any volunteers?"

"I can't, I'm driving," Jack answered.

"Jack goes," chorused the rest in unison. He grinned and leapt to the Doctor's side, coat swirling behind him. The Doctor glared at the clouds above him, as if it was somehow their fault. Ianto looked at the blue box doubtfully.

"The two of you together in that small box...?" Jack just grinned again.

"Well you come too then, if you're worried about what we get up to." The Doctor turned his glaring towards him, before turning to Ianto.

"Maybe you can try and keep him under control - he keeps fiddling with things he really shouldn't. You should try flying a time machine while he's touching your special equipment. I get really twitchy when he's anywhere near my levers."

Ianto looked aghast.

* * *

The SUV thundered along the M4 towards Cardiff. Nadrin bounced up and down in the front passenger seat, looking all the world like an excited child off on holiday. Her frequent squeaks of excitement were beginning to make Andy nervous, but not as nervous as Lois, who was sat next to the sleeping form of Mr Hegarty. After he fell into a state of unconsciousness Jack had administered a sedative to keep him out of it for quite a few hours, but Lois was still wary. She hadn't been filled in on the full details, just a quick once over by Jack, who was clearly eager to get back in the Doctor's TARDIS. All Lois was sure of was this man was dangerous, and she was next to him in a confined space.

* * *

Anna Johnson blinked in bewilderment as she watched the security screens as a police box materialised out of thin air in the plaza outside the Torchwood Hub. She checked the cables on the screen, before looking at her coffee accusingly - she vowed to leave it to Ianto from now on. She started in surprise as she saw Jack and Ianto leave the Police Box, closely followed by a man who could just have easily been 40 as he could have been 20. He was clad in a green cagoule, brown homburg and wore thick rimmed spectacles jammed on the point of his nose. Anna collected her pistol and went to investigate.

* * *

"That was... incredible...unbelievable!" Ianto stuttered as he fell from the TARDIS. "What was that?"

"Other than incredible and unbelievable?" the Doctor asked with smile, harrying Jack out of his craft. "That was the TARDIS, and we just jumped through space, and judging by the sun, time..." The Doctor gave a triumphant smile as he succeeded in getting Jack out into the street outside, but sighed in frustration as he pranced back in. Finally he emerged.

"What do you mean?" he asked of the Doctor, still exhilarated.

"We've gone back in time about 7 hours... so that's about 9 hours until Nadrin and the others get here." He sniffed, cleared his throat and turned to face the barrel of Anna's gun. Despite this he grinned inanely.

"What ho!" Jack and Ianto turned. Jack frowned.

"What are you up to, Anna?" She hesitated uncharacteristically, and gave an involuntary flinch as the Doctor nicked the gun from her hand deftly.

"Give that back, I'm warning-"

"It's definitely Jack, if that's what you're thinking," he said. "Watch." Without a hint of trepidation or concern he unceremoniously shoved the gun up to the back of Jack's head and pulled the trigger. Jack collapsed to the floor in a heap. The Doctor gave another inane grin.

"Wanted to do that for ages." He flung the gun back at Anna who caught it expertly and turned it back on the Doctor. Ianto rounded on him angrily, but jumped as Jack gulped in a huge breath and reawakened. He climbed to his feet and turned on the Doctor furiously.

"What was that for?!"

"That was for touching my TARDIS inappropriately!" Anna raised her eyebrows at this, before Ianto hastily ushered them all inside.

* * *

A good few hours later and Nadrin was jumping out of the SUV. Her enthusiasm at such a mundane thing as a car journey amused Andy, but he still found himself slightly wary of her.

"Err, what do we do with him?" Lois asked him, gesturing back at Vincent in the back seat of the car. Anna answered for him.

"We'll take him now." She appeared from the shadows, flanked by the Doctor, Jack and Ianto. Andy stared at the doctor in bewilderment.

"You managed to get here faster than us in a state of the art SUV, by using a 1960s police box?!" Nadrin smiled at him.

"It's the most state of the art 1960s police box in the world, isn't it Doctor?"

"Not just the world, dear child, the whole universe!" Andy sighed in resignation.

"So when did you get here?"

"Err, about 8 and a half hours ago." This only added to the former police officer's confusion.

"But you were still talking to Mr Hegarty then!"

"What, so there were two of us at the same time?" Ianto cut in.

"That's nothing, there were 3 of me in 1942," Jack said triumphantly. CHECK

"Mere trifles m'boy, there were once 4 of me in the Death Zone on Gallifrey." Nadrin shuddered.

"One's bad enough." She ducked as the Doctor threw his hat at her.

* * *

After Anna had done a brief check-up, Mr Hegarty was taken to a cell, whence upon Jack, the Doctor and others gathered in the hub. The Doctor sighed, and began to speak.

"I need to know about all the deaths recorded in Whortleby last time this happened, and how they were connected to Vincent. I think I've guessed the connection, but I really hope I'm wrong. From my previous dealings with the Grixrans I know what they were like, how they thought - and the technology they were developing." He watched as Lois and Andy got on with the job in hand immediately. Jack motioned towards Nadrin, huddled up in a corner, and the Doctor rose from his perch silently. She did not look up as he approached.

"Are they really all gone? All of them?" The Doctor gave a slight groan as he sat next to her.

"Yes. All of them. All that remains is in you and Vincent."

"Was it... Was it Them? Did They win the war?"

"Yes. The last surviving members used their final option, the escape craft, and flew to the only planet they had any prior knowledge of - Earth."

"Where Vincent killed them all. He did their work for them."

"Are you angry at him?"

"No... it wasn't his fault. They weren't the best race of people, but they didn't deserve it."

"No race deserves that."

"Not even Them?"

"No... I had the chance once, but couldn't." Nadrin and the Doctor sniffed in unison, causing Nadrin a slight smile. He held her for a few moments, then rose as Anna called out from watching the camera screens.

"He's gone, he's not in the cells!"

"Impossible." Jack strode over to her and checked for himself. "No-one escapes from our cells."

"Check the past few minutes," Ianto told Anna, arriving also. The Doctor bounded over, a look of horror and concern pasted on his normally cheerful features. Anna duly did as she was instructed, rewinding and starting as Vincent suddnly appeared on the screen. She pressed play-back, and they watched as Mr Hegarty dissolved into nothingness, and was gone. The Doctor's face took on an unhealthy pallor.

"We've let a half-human loose on the streets of Cardiff - and he's looking for blood."

* * *

So, another chapter complete - bit more dialouge than I'd hoped for, but alas and alack. Try to enjoy it, and sorry that I only managed to get 1 chapter done whilst I was away - I was very busy. But oh well, I should have another chapter up Tuesday or Wednesday, when I arrive back home at last, with a reliable interwebs plz!


	6. Chapter 6

**Well, I somehow found inspiration and wrote another chapter last night, but decided to wait on getting a beta to read it - so many thankees to Flinch. So, should be no mistakes for once! Anyway, enjoy, and see you again tomorrow evening - here's hoping.**

**Oh, and FOUR READERS, W00T. You're all brilliant. Those few who read but don't review - you're mildly irritating. Those many who don't read at all - you're deeply upsetting me.**

* * *

_Vincent Hegarty's Cottage, Whortleby, 1953_

Vincent watched from between the curtains as an armed guard patrolled outside his house. He felt safer than he had done for many weeks, yet not content - something terrible was to happen again this night, he knew it. If not to him, then to the armed guards outside his house. He lay back onto the double bed and motioned to slip his arm comfortingly around his wife, but found himself grasping thin air. He broke down into hacking, rasping sobs, before drifting off to merciful sleep.

Constable Oates looked out of the station window onto the high street, dimly lit by the electric lanterns which cast their glow onto the houses and shopfronts, creating an eerie spectral effect. He jumped as a fox ran across the road, the light playing weirdly on its shadow. Oates cursed himself for a fool, and turned away from the window to see Mr Hegarty behind him. Oates tripped on his office chair, and tried to regain his composure.

"Vincent, how did you get here, the armed guards!?" Mr Hegarty just smiled, and Oates heard a thud of metal. Oates' last sound reverbrated on the air as he hit the desk with a thud, small drops of blood running down to the floor, mingling with the navy blue of the carpet.

* * *

_The Torchwood Hub, Cardiff, 2010_

"They did it then..." Everyone looked at the Doctor in surprise and confusion. He failed to notice for a while before addressing Nadrin.

"You remember how the Grixrans were trying to find a way to break a living organism down into simple molecules and allow it to transport itself over short distances, before reforming fully intact, and with no data lost or gained? They managed it." He turned to face Jack, who drew his greatcoat closer around him.

"He can't have gone far, such a form of transport only works over short distances, no more than 500 metres." Ianto stood up and began to walk past the Doctor, as if to leave.

"I'll go and find him, talk to him. He'll listen to me."

"NO. No. He won't - he's not Vincent, not now. Mr Hegarty has switched operating systems, he's under direct influence from the Grixran program stored within his brain. Get the Hub in lockdown immediately." Ianto stopped suddenly, and drew back, doing as he was bid. The alarm system rang out as the Hub closed itself down to the outside world.

"What can we do then?" Ianto asked slowly. The Doctor thought hard for a brief moment before replying.

"There's nothing we can do - but so long as my theory is correct there are only 2 people in any danger at the moment." Jack leant forwards, towards the Doctor's downturned head.

"Who, Doctor? The faster you tell us, the faster we can get some kind of protection for them."

"There can be no protection, not now. But luckily they already know the threat."

"Just tell me, Doctor!"

"The only two people he feels any bond with. You and Ianto."

* * *

Andy and Lois were tucked away in Jack's office where the Doctor had sent them, much to Jack's displeasure. They were rifling through past records and reports, looking for the link the Doctor had said they would find.

"Wish he'd said what the link is, it's not easy looking for something when you don't know what you're looking for," Andy grumbled, nose close to the computer screen, practically touching it. Lois smiled at this.

"If he tells us, we'll be biased towards finding that particular link, missing what could be the actual link." "Well there's no link here, they just seem to be random people."

"It's never random," the Doctor said softly, having slipped silently into the room.

"We can't find anything statistical to link the deaths in '53, or in 2010, except Myrtle Blythe, Ed Blythe, Kirsty Matthews, Sarah Matthews and Sandra Hegarty - they were all related in some form to Vincent. But that doesn't explain all the other victims," Lois reported, eyes on the computer screen rather than to whom she was addressing. The Doctor sighed.

"As I thought - it's not a statistical link, it's an emotional link. I'd bet all the victims were close friends of Vincent." He turned on his heel to leave, but Lois stopped him.

"Doctor - who exactly are you? Jack said we should never trust people outside the organisation, yet we're trusting you, and your friend, without question. You just waltz in and take over - are you manipulating Jack in some way? And you call yourself 'The Doctor'... Doctor who?" The Doctor waited patiently for the frustration and worry to pour from Lois' mouth in a rush of words. He crouched down before her, getting down to her eye level to ensure he didn't intimidate her.

"I have no other name - just the Doctor. That's all I know, all I want to know. I'm a Time Lord, a race from Gallifrey - now destroyed. I am the last of my kind - in normal space anyway. I've met Jack before, in a different time, in many different times, in many different incarnations. I can change my appearance, my whole body to prevent myself dying, Jack has met me in various forms. As for Nadrin, I trust her, so Jack trusts her. Much as I appear to dislike Jack we do have a mutual trust and respect."

"So Jack does have respect for something then?" Lois asked, less in jest than she had originally intended.

"Jack respects everyone and everything - he just has a funny way of showing it." Lois smiled, and nodded.

"The first few victims, have you any details on them? Their interests, hobbies, where they were found, anything?" the Doctor asked Andy, switching the subject of conversation.

"All the victims were found in the churchyard in Whortleby, as for the first, it was a certain Gareth Greene. A milkman, found near the war memorial. On Constable Oates' report he's listed as being shy and says he stayed inside much of the time, kept himself to himself. He's also added that he was often the first to propose a conspiracy story." Andy finished reading, sipped a bit of coffee and loked at the Doctor expectantly, who laughed mirthlessly.

"He was a clever chap, was Constable Oates. Just the Grixran way - first remove anyone who could put the pieces together, even if no-one would listen to him." The Doctor sighed the sigh of a man who had seen it all before - a long and drawn out sigh, with sorrow and worry evident in his expression. With only a quick flash of a smile of gratitude directed to Andy and Lois the Doctor turned on his heel and left, his cagoulle swirling behind him.

* * *

Nadrin and Anna stood at the CCTV screens, watching the feeds from cameras positioned around the plass outside the Hub. Nadrin shifted on the box she was standing on and pointed rapidly and wordlessly at one screen where Mr Hegarty was visible. Anna noted this and strode over to Jack and the others, gathered around one of the workstations.

"He's just outside - not moving, just staring into the camera," she reported. Ianto pondered for a moment, before answering from over his coffee mug.

"His brain is calculating, it works like a computer program. The Doctor told me." He took another gulp of coffee, before looking mournfully at the dregs left in the bottom. "We're only in danger if it works out how to get in here to us."

"It? He's still a person!" Nadrin reprimanded him. Ianto turned to her, expression still deadpan.

"I was referring to the Grixran Program." Nadrin glared at him, the danger and tention in the air bringing her back from her downcast state and back to her normal abrasive self. She opened her mouth, ready for an argument, but the Doctor slipped a hand over her mouth as he swirled past.

"The Grixrans were also working on technology that was capable of implanting what were basically operating systems into brains by rewriting genetic code on various cells - that was what the wave of energy Vincent described was. It implanted a program into his mind which sorts through memories and faces, and selects the ones which he has the strongest bond to by dipping into the emotions as if they were some sort of search tool. The people with the strongest bonds become his victims." Nadrin fought her way from the Doctor's grip.

"Surely that wouldn't work against Them?" she asked, and watched the Doctor nod.

"Total waste of time, but they wouldn't know. But using memories and emotions as a weapon - that's disgraceful." The Doctor sniffed angrily, and turned to Anna, still at the screens.

"What's Mr Hegarty doing now?"

"He hasn't changed position, but he has stopped looking into the camera, he's looking at the floor now."

"He's trying to find a way in to get you, Jack." Jack looked surprised at the bluntness of the Doctor's statement, but said nothing.

"He'll know all of us, the bond between us and him will inevitably grow stronger - don't let yourself get close to him, be rude as you can to him, but we mustn't let him know why we're doing this, he's got to grow to dislike us, to keep us safe."

"If he doesn't get blood from any of us, will he attack anyone else?" Anna asked, deadpan as Ianto.

"No, he's got plenty of iron now, enough to last a few years I should think - unlike Nadrin, who takes steady iron supplements, Mr Hegarty acts more like a car with a massive fuel tank - when he's low he fills himself up for many years. He's only attacking what the Grixran program says he needs to."

"But he's really old, he can't live much longer!" Nadrin exclaimed, confused.

"The Grixran Program has kept him alive - and will continue to do so. It's slowly taking over his body, but the process won't be complete for centuries, millenia even. Eventually the program will rewrite his genetic material until he is a Grixran - whence upon he will begin to convert the rest of the human race. Luckily it's a very inefficient system - and I'm here to stop it." Jack snorted and went to the CCTV screens, watching as Mr Hegarty remained still on the screen.

"What happens when we do form a bond with Vincent?" he asked the Doctor, not removing his gaze from the still figure it showed.

"Then we have to rely on those he has never met - i.e. Anna."

"And Greg," Ianto chipped in, with a slight scowl. The Doctor raised his eyebrows.

"Greg?"

"Our medic," Jack explained, facing the Doctor this time. "He's been borrowed by UNIT for a while, they need some help doing..." Jack trailed off as he looked back at the screen, expecting to see the figure of Mr Hegarty, where in fact he saw just the pavement behind.

* * *

**Boombadadoom. **

**No idea what that was for...**


	7. Chapter 7

**I'M HOME! Oh. It was nicer in Cornwall. But on the plus side, I have a reliable internet connection, time to write and A REUNION WITH MY ELECTRIC WIZARD CD. I'm listening to Return Trip as I write this, ironically. Many thanks to my beta reader Flinch-Hayward, without whom this story would have finished 2 chapters ago with 800 word chapters. Expect the quality of my writing to improve further on Friday, when she we start kicking me to greater things.  
Also, many thanks to my reviewers, ChellusAuglerie, rara saryn and moonchild94 for keeping me going with story, and keeping me on the border between sanity and normality that allows me to write. Though how you know what is going to happen, ChellusAuglerie, I have no idea, since I made this up about half an hour before I wrote it, and the next chapter is only just beginning to form in my head - and literally just now I've had an idea that will extend this story by a chapter.**

**Read on my dearies, and enjoy.**

* * *

_Whortleby, 1953_

Vincent awoke to see the dust motes floating gently on the air, illuminated by the rays of sunshine penetrating his bedroom from between the curtains. He rolled over and kicked the covers off, before slipping himself into his aptly named slippers. He breakfasted and washed in the same way he had done over the past week - hastily. But it was without reason; he knew that the armed guard outside were not allowed to unlock his door until 9 AM - another hour away. He whiled away the time with yesterdays unread newspaper, waiting for the hour to arrive.

Not a second after 9 AM the temporary bolts were withdrawn, and the door opened to reveal one of the agents drafted in from Cardiff - but he wasn't the police, no identification or such sort was in evidence. He was holding a Webley loosely in one hand, which he used to beckon Vincent out into the morning sunshine.

"Still alive and well I see," he said, his voice not betraying that was what he had expected.

"Have any more been found, sir?" Vincent asked warily. The newcomer shook his head and adjusted his coat.

"None - but I've been instructed to go with you on your rounds today." Vincent nodded gratefully, and they set off together into the churchyard, Vincent performing the duties he had done ever since he returned to Whortleby after the war - extinguishing the old fashioned oil lanterns which the council hadn't bothered to replace. Vincent had worked out soon that the deaths were connected to him - every body was left on the route he followed - to scare him perhaps? To make sure it was him who found them? He didn't know. He looked over at his silent companion, whose face was impassive, hiding the fact that he was ever on the alert.

"You're not police or secret service - that's clear. Who are you?"

"Torchwood." He watched as Vincent's face betrayed the unfamiliarity of the word, and remained silent, as they did until they returned to Vincent's cottage, adjacent to the vicarage.

"Nothing for the first time in a week, officer," Vincent said to the agent, who nodded, relieved, and gave a slight smile before replying.

"It's not officer, it's Captain. Captain Jack Harkness."

* * *

_Torchwood Hub, Cardiff, 2010_

"Jack? Jack, what is it? Tell us!" Captain Jack Harkness didn't answer Anna's question, though it was more of a demand. He merely indicated the screen with a flick of his eyelids. The Doctor strode over, gave the screen the briefest of looks before issuing orders with alacrity.

"We've got a few minutes before the process finishes and he gets in here. We need to keep together, surround Jack and Ianto - He won't kill us without reason, though he will kill us to get at them."

"Is there nowhere where they can be safe from him?" Nadrin asked, concern creeping into her voice.

"Only in a vacuum - which isn't going to happen, obviously. Where's the best place for us, Ianto?" Ianto sat silently, considering, so Jack answered for him.

"Nowhere I can think of that can escape what is effectively teleportation - so what I'd suggest is we keep in the main Hub where there's a lot of room or the boardroom-"

"Where there's a coffee machine," Ianto finished. Jack gave him a typical grin. The Doctor sighed.

"Right, I've changed my mind - we should split into three groups, that way if he gets one group, the others aren't immediately compromised. So, I think the groups should be Jack, Andy and myself in the main Hub, Ianto, Nadrin and Lois in the Boardroom, and Anna... stay out of the way somewhere. Store cupboard or something."

"You're not sorting us into football teams," Ianto criticised, cutting across Anna's enraged reply. The Doctor ignored Ianto and turned to Anna.

"You've got to stay away from Mr Hegarty, even when he is under the Grixran program's influence. So, off to the cupboard with you!" The Doctor gave one of his usual inane smiles, and Anna stormed off in a huff.

* * *

Ianto stood happily at the coffee machine, pouring out three cups. Lois took hers gratefully, glugging it down quickly. Ianto handed a cup of milky coffee to Nadrin, who eyed it doubtfully. Ianto nodded enthusiastically, and she took a gulp, as Lois had done. She held it in her mouth for a few seconds, before retching and spitting it back into the cup. Ianto looked away in disappointment, hence not noticing Nadrin's look of utter disgust. He gave her a cup of milk instead, and she propped herself up by the door, where she sipped at it in silence. Lois dropped her cup onto the table with a clang, making the other two jump. She flashed an apologetic smile, before pulling out her phone and beginning to write a text.

"What are you up to?" Ianto asked her, brow creased in a frown.

"Writing a text for Jack, if Mr Hegarty appears here, I click send." Ianto nodded, and looked over to Nadrin. She was pulling a series of syringes and liquids from her pockets, far too much stuff to fit into her jacket.

"How did you get all that in there?" Lois asked, surprised.

"The Doctor lent me a jacket," Nadrin muttered, still busy.

"That explains it all perfectly," Lois murmured back, sarcasm clear to Ianto, but Nadrin looked up in surprise.

"Oh, didn't know you knew about the Doctor's technology." She continued to work, mixing two liquids together in a syringe, one rusty red, the other a dark green. There was a small amount of effervescence, and she replaced her stuff back in her pocket. She looked up, and noticed the other two watching her.

"Iron supplement, it's my time of the month." Ianto blushed, and Lois nodded understandably.

"Not like that," she added hastily. "I don't have that." Lois and Ianto watched her as she rolled her sleeve up and prepared to press the needle against her skin. Her form began to shimmer, and defocus. Ianto and Lois started in surprise as she disappeared completely as Mr Hegarty appeared between them, obscuring Nadrin from view.

* * *

In the main expanse of the Hub, the Doctor and Jack wandered round, with Andy trotting on their heels. They were checking all the rooms and cupboards, checking the locks and how they were employed.

"Why exactly are we locking the cupboards and rooms if he can teleport?" Andy asked for the second time. The Doctor sighed irritably.

"He can't teleport, it's just similar to that. And he can't do it very often, it takes a lot of energy to break down into atoms like that." Andy nodded, still not quite comprehending. Jack started as a door to a store cupboard opened unexpectedly.

"You're not locking me in," Anna said, threat heavy in her voice. The Doctor's eyes widened.

"You ACTUALLY went to a store cupboard?!" Jack smirked.

"She does have a habit of taking orders a bit too literally." Jack's phone beeped, receiving the text Lois had sent instinctively.  
"He's here."

* * *

Lois screamed, while Ianto just stepped back in horror and terror. He backed into the table as Mr Hegarty advanced, and tripped slightly. Despite his predicament, he sniffed at how just like the movies that was. The triumphant smile seen by all his victims beamed from Mr Hegaty's face, which suddenly replaced by a impassive look, and a sort of calm seemed to befall him. He sank to the floor, head bent to his knees, and promptly closed his eyes to sleep. Ianto looked up from Mr Hegarty's prone form to Nadrin, standing behind Mr Hegarty, gently removing the syringe from his back. Ianto sat down on the desk behind him rather hard, while Lois sank down beside him. Nadrin smiled shakily, and pulled herself up onto the table to sit with them. The three just sat there, staring at Mr Hegarty's from, then looked up in alarm as the Doctor and the other two burst in.

"I thought you were staying away," Ianto said accusingly.

"How could we possibly stay away?" Jack said, and Ianto smiled in relief as a reply. Jack looked down at Vincent, as if noticing him for the first time.

"What happened?"

"Hit him in the back with my iron mix," Nadrin replied, with another shaky smile. The Doctor looked at his companion with pride.

"You gave the iron the program was expecting, so it shut down. He'll probably return to the cells now, or at least he will be by morning. We'd better all go to the medical unit, we need to get our heads down." Jack winked at Ianto, and Doctor tutted in disgust.

* * *

The sounds of the Hub leaving lockdown woke Ianto from his short slumber, to see the Doctor standing inexplicably reading a book on fly fishing in New Zealand. Ianto adjusted himself, and silently left the medical unit where they had kipped for a short time. He went straight to the screens to check if Mr Hegarty was back where he belonged. He noticed that he wasn't actually in the cell, but sleeping on the floor outside - obviously he had walked or sleepwalked back and couldn't get through the door into the locked cell.  
He started as the giant cog rolled back, revealing the unexpected form of Greg walking in, his dark hair a mess and his blue eyes only half alert at such an hour of the morning. Ianto hurried over to him and intercepted his way down to the medical unit.

"What are you doing?" Greg asked him, clearly confused. Ianto said nothing and hurried him towards a store cupboard. Greg looked bemused as Ianto opened to door and tried to force him in.

"Ianto, stop it! If this is about Jack-"

"It's not - it's to save all our lives. Somehow, you'll have to ask the Doctor."

"I AM the doctor!"

"No, THE Doctor. You'll meet him later, probably. Sorry Greg, but it's a neccessary precaution." Ianto shut the door, failing to restrain a childish grin, before making his way to Jack's office. Greg banged on the door for a while, before he felt cold steel on the back of his head.

"You've woken me up, and I slept in a cupboard. This is not a good time to meet me."

* * *

Jack was not, unsurprisingly, in the medical unit as the Doctor had ordered, but instead curled up in his bed. He opened his eyes, which fell upon a mug of steaming coffee on the table near to him. He smiled as he felt Ianto shift where he was perched on the end of the bed. He sat up and stretched theatrically, yawning more loudly than what was necessary. Picking up the coffee he smiled gratefully at Ianto, and kept his gaze on the archivist as he drank. Finally he rose and spoke.

"Has the Doctor noticed I'm not where he said I should be yet?"

"He didn't mention it. He probably expects it." Ianto rose also, and they made their way back to the medical facility.

* * *

"Anna?! Why are we in a cupboard?" Anna dropped the gun from Greg's head, recognising his voice.

"It's something to do with the man we have down in the cells. Basically, some aliens made it so he kills everyone he makes friends with, and since neither of us have met him, the Doctor stuck us in here so that we don't. We're the back-up plan."

"Who is this Doctor? Ianto mentioned him too."

"Another alien, but Jack trusts him, so we have to too."

"So we sit here for how long?"

"Until we're needed."

"What are we supposed to do to pass the time?"

"You'll have to ask Jack for suggestions." Greg smiled, though Anna couldn't see it in the dark.

"I already know what Jack'd suggest."

"Somehow, I think not."

* * *

Jack and Ianto made their way back to the Doctor and the others. When he saw them approaching he tutted at them disapprovingly.

"What did I say Jack? I told you to keep together."

"I'm sort of in charge here, though." The Doctor nodded in reluctant agreement, and chucked as Lois grumbled when Andy rolled over into her back. Nadrin was curled up on a desk, using her arms as a pillow, knees brought up to her chest. The three already awake waited for Andy and Lois to join them from their slumbers, and once they had the bleary eyed team made their way to a workstation, while the Doctor went below to fetch Vincent.

"How long is this going to go on for?" Lois asked Jack, rubbing sleep from her eyes.

"As long as it takes to uninstall the Grixran Program," Jack replied, glaring at Andy as he yawned noisily. They sat in silence and waited for the Doctor to arrive with Vincent. They duly arrived a short time later, the Doctor looking around for his companion.

"Where's Nadrin? Why is she not up yet? She doesn't normally sleep at all..." Realisation struck him in an instant, and without a word to the rest he dashed straight back to the medical unit. The rest looked at each other, before running after him, except Lois, who helped the elderly Vincent along.  
Jack stopped in his tracks as he saw the Doctor gently shaking Nadrin, trying to wake her, his own body shaking in anger at his mistake.

"What's wrong with her, Doctor?" Ianto asked, worry etched into his face.

"Her iron supplement, she injected it into Vincent, she didn't take it," he croaked. He cursed loudly, and looked at Jack imploringly.

"I'll get Greg," Ianto said, turning on his heel, but Jack stopped him.

"No, we can't run that risk. We'll have to do something ourselves." Jack indicated a surgical knife, neatly arranged with the rest of the equipment. The Doctor turned his gaze first to the instrument, then to Nadrin, before turning back to Jack.

"No, you can't, she'd kill me."

"If we don't, we kill her." The Doctor sighed in frustration.

"But we can't use mine, I'm not human!"

"What are you talking about, what do you mean?" Lois asked hesitantly but urgently.

"We'll have to do it Vincent's way - blood." Lois' eyes widened, and she took an involuntary step back.

"Use mine - you'll need less." The Doctor looked up in surprise at Vincent's statement.

"He's right," Ianto whispered softly. The Doctor averted his gaze, and began to hop from foot to foot and wring his hands, undecided and feeling the worry and stress creeping all over his body. "But it would ruin everything, we'd all be at risk tonight. Especially Nadrin! She'd owe him her life, and so would I - and that could take our lives. The risk is too great, far too great!"

"Better a risk than a certainty," Ianto whispered, even softer this time. The Doctor nodded in agreement, before casting an apologetic look at Vincent.

"If there was another way-"

"There IS another way Doctor, but this is the best way. And after what I've done these years, it's about time I gave something back."

Vincent's voice cracked, then he composed himself and rolled up his sleeve.

* * *

**Blimey, that was a long chapter. Hope you enjoyed it, if you did, review it! Even if you didn't review it! PLEASE.**


	8. Chapter 8

**Third time lucky?**

**Another chapter - just - the Interwebs decided to die at just the wrong time. BUT IT LIVES NOW.**

**To ChellusAuglerie, Nadrin is part Grixran, so needs Iron too, but usually takes it through tablets or injection.**

_

* * *

_

Whortleby 1953

Jack accompanied Vincent to the police station - no real reason other than curiosity. He'd already been briefed on what had occurred, their link to Vincent, et cetera, but there was no harm in finding out who the information had come from. They walked up the steps side by side, before approaching the forbidding double doors. Vincent stretched out a hand to the door knob, his hand far steadier than it had been for the past week. He turned the handle - nothing. He gave it a more violent turn and a shake - still nothing. Jack sighed, and shifted Vincent to one side. He grasped the handle and gave it a vicious tug.

"Ah..." Jack looked guiltily at the knob in his hand, which he handed to Vincent. "Well, it's already broken, so-"

Jack shoulder barged the door, and fell through onto the floor behind. He rose, rubbing his shoulder and wiping a fleck of blood from his cheek - that was odd, he hadn't hurt his cheek... He turned back to Vincent, who was staring wide eyed at a point just beyond Jack's leg. Jack frowned, and spun round.

He found himself gazing into the eyes of Hamish Oates, gazing sightlessly at the ceiling. Jack sighed and scratched his head, as Vincent backed out of the station and began to run.

* * *

A Cupboard in the Torchwood Hub, Cardiff, 2010

Greg shifted uncomfortably against a large metal contraption. He didn't know what it was called - even if he did, he doubted he knew what it was for. Anna was catnapping on a desk, which was already groaning under the weight of several boxes of files. He yelped as his back slipped and caught against a lever. Anna murmured in her sleep but didn't wake - Greg smiled in relief at this. Even being in the same team wasn't much protection against Anna if you annoyed her. In a funny way he reminded her of his own time period - people were much like that back then, hiding their real feelings behind stony faces and stiff upper lips. War and all that. They usually had the mentality of a 6 week old kitten behind that, though Greg struggled to find any links between Anna and a kitten - except the claws maybe. He grunted, and settled down, finally nodding off, back still resting against the broken coffee machine.

* * *

The Medical Unit, Torchwood Hub, Cardiff, 2010

Vincent didn't gasp or grunt in pain or shock; he bore the needle's prick stoically. The Doctor had already taken a small sample to test the concentration of the iron in his blood, and handed his result to Ianto. Ianto sat and worked out how much blood was needed while the Doctor looked on anxiously as Lois carefully withdrew Ianto's stated volume of blood from Vincent. He covered his mouth and bit on his finger as the needle was removed, and Lois handed the full vessel to Jack.

"That's 0.782 of a pint, Lois? No more, no less?" the Doctor demanded of her, the anxiety raising the pitch of his voice slightly. Lois nodded in silence, and Jack prepared to administer the dosage.

"No Jack, stop, you can't. You don't know where she administers it." Jack stopped as he was bidden, the needle point hovering above Nadrin's left arm.

"You can't do it Doctor, you're a bag of nerves!" Ianto retorted it. He took the needle off Jack, and held it tightly.

"But I've got to!"

"Tell me where to do it," Ianto said calmly. The Doctor nodded shakily and instead directed Ianto to Nadrin's right arm. Ianto found the bruise which had formed due to constant injections with ease - it was a purple beacon against her pale flesh. Ianto pressed the needle in and held his breath as Vincent's blood flowed into Nadrin's veins. When the last drop had left the syringe he passed it to the Doctor, who sighed and put it in his pocket.

"She'll stay in a coma for about 24 hours - she'll be right as rain tomorrow." The Doctor ushered them all out, back to the workstation they had gathered around the day before.

"So now we have to work out what triggers the Grixran program in Vincent, how to stop it, uninstall it if you like - Jack, take Vincent to get some coffee, get us all coffee. But he needs it especially." Ianto was about to make an indignant reply when the Doctor continued his narrative.

"I need Ianto here, right now - I need him to check the archives, see if there's anything similar to this that's happened before. Lois, you're the best with computers, you can help me try to uninstall the program, once you've checked the computer archives. Andy... Err... Clean the TARDIS."

"What's that got to do with helping Vincent?!"

"He likes pretty police boxes." Andy tutted and headed off to find the cleaning equipment.

* * *

Midway through the Doctor's instructions Jack had wandered off with Vincent, making their way to the coffee machine in the boardroom, which was further from the workstations, but Jack needed some time to think. He sat Vincent down in a chair - the physical and mental exertions were beginning to take their toll on him. Jack sighed sympathetically, and turned to the coffee machine. He gave the machine a quick once over, trying to find if there was some secret button Ianto pressed to get the coffee tasting better than Jack could ever get it. As usual he couldn't find it, and go to making the coffee as always.

"Black or white, Vincent?" Jack said, head down, still making the Doctor's coffee - about 70% milk. Vincent didn't reply.

"Vincent? Black or white?" Jack turned to see Mr Hegarty standing triumphantly over him - he seemed taller that he was before, Jack mused. This was before he felt a jarring pain in his neck, and fell to the ground. The last thing he saw before his swimming vision faded was his lovingly made coffee falling to the ground.

* * *

The Doctor and Lois were engrossed in their computer activities, and didn't notice Ianto's return. They both started as he started to speak unexpectedly.

"Couldn't find a thing, went right back to-" He paused. "Did you hear that?"

"Hear what?" the Doctor asked, stretching her back.

"A coffee mug smashing, must have come from the boardroom."

"Trust you to hear that," Lois said with a small smile.

"But it was Jack's mug!"

"You can tell a mug from how it shatters?!"

Ianto ignored her, and the trio rushed off toward the boardroom.

* * *

Mr Hegarty didn't look up as the Boardroom door opened; he just continued to feed himself on Jack's blood. Ianto stopped in his tracks and the other two ran into him. The Doctor shoved his way past the frozen archivist, and gasped in shock, then cursed.

"Taking the blood must have caused the Grixran Program to run!" Mr Hegarty rose, the final drops of Jack's blood sucked from out the gash in his neck. Ianto strove to tear his eyes from Jack's pale, shrivelled body, contrasted against the crimson stains on the wooden floor. His gaze was finally broken when the Doctor pulled him away from the rapidly advancing Mr Hegarty, the blue lights casting odd shadows onto his grinning face. Ianto gave a rasping croak of fear, still having to be led backwards by the Doctor, Lois retreating behind them.

"Ianto, get behind me," the Doctor muttered urgently, and positioned himself before Ianto. Mr Hegarty's grin grew wider, and he continued to pursue them out of the boardroom door.

"Don't run, Ianto, he'll be faster, but Lois, you go. RUN." Lois didn't argue, and shot off. Ianto made as if to follow her, but the Doctor place a restraining hand on Ianto's arm.

"Don't run, I said."

"You go then, Doctor, you don't need to be here." The Doctor flashed a quick smile.

"I'm your only protection right now." The Doctor tripped and fell backwards, only saved from falling flat on his back by Ianto grabbing his hand. He took the initiative and began to lead the Doctor down the stairs.

"I'm dead 5 minutes and you two are already at it?" Ianto and the Doctor quickly released each other's hands, turned and looked at Jack's figure framed in the doorway. As did Mr Hegarty.

"Err... Doctor... What's he doing?" Jack said slowly.

"You should know more than me, you 51st century moron, I can only see his back!" Jack cocked his head to one side in interest. Mr Hegarty just stared blankly at him.

"Don't move Jack, not at least until I've worked out what is going on..." The Doctor saw Lois watching them from the bottom of the stairs and beckoned her up. As she reached the top Mr Hegarty gave an almighty spasm and fell to the floor. Ianto and the Doctor looked her questioningly.

"It's almost like a file's become corrupted..." The Doctor jumped suddenly, and yelped in delight.

"Of course! The program is saying you're dead, Jack, and you're not! The program is confused, it's shutting itself down!" Vincent gave a few more spasms before going limp.

* * *

Jack and the Doctor carried Vincent's unconscious form to the Autopsy Room, while Lois went to fetch Andy. The Doctor produced his stethoscope, and got to work.

"Greg could do that you know," Jack said, disrupting the Doctor from his work.

"That's true, but I've about finished now. We'd better remember to let them out of the cupboard soon. Err, you HAVE remembered to feed them?"

"Ianto's been in and out with pizza and coffee."

"Staple Torchwood diet then. Fair enough." Andy and Lois chose that moment to arrive.

"What happened? Is he dead?" Andy asked in a rush.

"He's alive, just. The program's shut down this time - not in standby as per usual. It won't affect him for much longer, but then again the program was all that was keeping him alive; he won't last much longer." Vincent's eyes flickered, then opened. He looked up at the weary faces of Jack and the Doctor.

"It happened again? During the day? Where's Ianto? Please say not Ianto, no more, please no more!" Vincent made as if to rise, but the Doctor pushed him back down again.

"It's fine, Ianto's fine, everything's fine. It won't happened again, the program shut down. You're free, Vincent." The Doctor smiled, but the smile faded when he saw a small trickle escaping from Vincent's eye.

"I am free. Free from all the suffering that I've caused. This is it for me." The Doctor nodded, and Vincent gave a harsh, rattling laugh.

"The end!" he added dramatically.

"You have a bit longer, Vincent," Ianto added from the doorway. "I've made coffee, we'll move you somewhere more comfortable-"

"No, leave me here. I don't want to move." Ianto nodded and place the mug down beside him. The group turned to leave, and Vincent closed his eyes as they turned the lights down.

He held the mug of coffee tightly, but he didn't feel it getting cold.

* * *

"I hope the TARDIS is sparkling now, Andy," the Doctor said. Andy proceeded to hit him with a sponge.

"Looks pretty as a picture it does," Andy said resentfully.

"Oi you, I could have got you to clean the inside too."

"And you don't want that, I've seen it," Jack added. Ianto sighed and stretched.

"Well I guess that's that over with. Should we check on Nadrin?" he said, muffling a slight yawn as he did so.

"I'll go and sit with her overnight, you lot can go home."

"Once you've done your reports." Andy and Lois scowled at Jack, but he ignored them.

"I'll go with you to see Nadrin," Ianto added. The Doctor made as if to disagree, but changed his mind.

"Come on then, she won't be particularly interesting, she's still asleep," the Doctor said as they walked.

"Of course she's interesting - I need to know more about her race, how she came to be."

"What, so you can add her to your collection?" the Doctor said sceptically.

Ianto sniffed. "Everything needs to be catalogued. It could help in the future, you never know."

The Doctor chuckled.

"I'm sure she'd love to be on your records. I'll tell you about her, but don't let her know I said anything, she doesn't like people knowing about what happened to her."

"My lips are sealed."

"Except when Jack's around."

Ianto blushed.

They stepped into Jack's office where they had put Nadrin, sleeping in Jack's bed - the Doctor had protested against this for a while – Jack's bed was never a safe place to be – but logic and reason won out in the end. It did mean that Jack would be sleeping in the TARDIS though.

"She looks peaceful enough," the Doctor said, watching fondly as she shifted slightly, chewing her fingernail. He sat on the end of the bed as Ianto had done that morning, and stroked her chocolate brown hair softly. Ianto stood awkwardly behind them. The Doctor began to hum a Grixran tune to himself, but jumped off the bed in shock as Nadrin sat bolt upright.

"What?! You can't be awake yet!" Nadrin said nothing, then her small form melted from existence, and a rush of wind shot past Ianto and out the door. The Doctor collapsed onto the now empty bed in horror.

"It wasn't the brain, it was the blood! The Grixran program is stored in the blood! And we gave it to Nadrin!" He made a sort of strangled cry, and drew his homburg hat down over his eyes. Ianto sat down beside the Doctor's distraught body.

"I guess that puts paid to us going home then."

* * *

**YEAH, LOOK WE ALL UPDATED AT 9! Though, I'm updating at 9:15 due to interwebs and myself failing. CC uploaded the wrong chapter. Sorry Flinch.**

* * *


	9. Chapter 9

**ARGH CRAP! BLOODY STUPID FAILLY FFN.**

**I have a lot of pent up rage right now, due both to FFN and the failling of a certain music store somehow managing to sell nothing at all by the second most popular thrash metal band in the world (statistically). But I went to the bookstore on the other side of the road and got a Torchwood book to improve my writing of them - I'm taking this way too seriously ¬¬**

**Many, many, many apologies for not updating, the system seemed to fail just after Flinch updated - and just before I did. It did take some convincing for me to upload this chapter, I wrote it as I got in from school, when I generally at my most tired and most grumpy.**

* * *

_Whortleby, 1953_

Vincent didn't stop running until he made it back to his cottage, whence upon he threw himself down on the sofa nearest the door, breath catching in his throat. He retched, and rushed to the bathroom. Someone outside knocked on the door. Vincent didn't move, and the man at the door knocked again, before pushing the letterbox open.

"Mr Hegarty? It's Jack, we're moving you to Cardiff. Where you'll be safe." Jack shouted through the open letterbox, waiting in vain to hear the man replying. Vincent flushed the toilet and went to meet the Captain. He opened the door, and Jack stepped inside.

"You say you'll be the only one left - we'll keep you in Cardiff for a week, maybe a month, until it stops round here. Collect your things." Vincent nodded in resignation.

"I suppose so. There's nothing to keep me here now." Jack led Vincent to the awaiting car, engine running, burning fuel.

"When I go, the dying will probably stop, you know," Vincent murmured to Jack, who nodded.

"That's the idea."

* * *

_Torchwood Hub, Cardiff, 2010_

"Finished!" Lois said happily to Andy, saving the document and preparing to send it to Jack. She raced through the e-mail process, with the speed of one who have done it for a living. She picked up her bag and threw her few possessions inside.

"I'm off for the night then, see you-" Lois stopped in her tracks as the Doctor charged headlong towards them. He skidded to a halt, almost bowling Lois over.

"We have a problem - a big problem."

* * *

Without explaining a thing, the Doctor had sent Jack and Andy off to the cupboard to collect the missing team members - as Lois had said, just like Jack himself. The Doctor didn't seem too pleased at being compared to Jack, but ignored the reference, he seemed to have other things on his mind.

Jack strode along, deep in thought, with Andy chatting along amicably by his side. Both Greg and Anna had been locked in there for nearly 24 hours by this point - but, Jack reasoned, they'd been rather preoccupied with other matters. He watched as Andy pulled out the key and unlocked the door, letting Greg and Anna tumble out.

"About time too!" Greg exclaimed, dusting himself off. "I don't know what I was leaning against, but it was rather painful."

Jack peered into the gloom, waiting until his eyes adjusted before picking out the form of the now broken instrument.

"Greg, you've broken our spare coffee machine. Ianto will not be pleased." He turned his gaze to the unusually quiet Anna. "Something wrong, Anna?"

"I've spent a day and a night in a cupboard, with no light, little food, little explanation and dubious company. There are plenty of things wrong." Greg looked mournfully at her, but she was too irritated to care.

"JACK! DOCTOR SAYS GET GREG BACK IN THE CUPBOARD." Ianto's shout echoed around the hub, and Jack turned back to Greg.

"Sorry, but orders is orders."

"Since when have you obeyed orders?"

"Since they involved locking people in cupboards." Jack pushed Greg back inside, slamming the door into his shout of protest. Jack locked the door, and gave Anna and Andy a worried look. The three of them dashed back to the Doctor without a moment's hesitation.

* * *

The Doctor looked up as the trio came to a halt in front of him. Lois was still at the workstation, looking thoroughly miserable. Ianto just looked blank.

"What's going on, Doc?" Jack demanded. The Doctor tutted in annoyance, but decided against complaining.

"The Grixran program wasn't stored in the brain - it was stored in the blood. It's in Nadrin now, she's under its influence." Andy's mouth dropped open in horror, while Jack blanched.

Anna barely batted an eyelid. "We're all in danger now, what can we do?"

The Doctor laughed mirthlessly. "Actually, this is probably the only time Nadrin's introversion has come in useful. Don't take this the wrong way, but she won't trust you - any of you. She doesn't trust anyone - except me."

Lois sniffed.

"What's the right way to take it then?"

"Ignore it, she talks to you - from Nadrin that's a compliment in itself. She'll reform shortly - we've got to try and confuse the program."

"What, using Jack again?" Andy enquired.

"No, Nadrin doesn't trust Jack enough - the program will ignore him. No-one trusts Jack that much, except Vincent. He must be deluded."

"How do we confuse it then?" Andy continued, unconvinced.

"Mill around in front of me - I'll keep changing position. I'll try talking to her - she's very strong willed, I may be able to get through to her. But most importantly, stick together."

Lois gave a small scream as Nadrin materialised suddenly behind him, a triumphant smile replacing her normal scowl.

* * *

In the cupboard, Greg tried to find his way to where Anna had been sleeping - she hadn't complained so it was probably more comfortable than sleeping against a coffee machine. He cursed as he tripped over something in the darkness, and sank down to the floor. He crawled over to the wall and leant against it, his usual cheerful aura replaced by one of abject misery.

* * *

The Doctor spun around, tutted and dived behind Lois. Nadrin began to advance on her, her face still split by a wide grin.

"What's with the grin, Doctor? It's creeping me out!" Lois complained and she slowly backed off, helped by the Doctor's guiding hand.

"The program is probably making her express what it thinks is a friendly expression. The Grixrans don't use facial expression to communicate, you see." He kept guiding her backwards, before barking out an order.

"Ianto, get between me and Lois. Back off to the side, I want to see how long she keeps following Lois." Ianto did as he was bidden, and the Doctor slowly guided him out to the side, hiding behind him all the time. He smiled in relief and Nadrin continued to follow Lois.

"Lois, get as far away from me as you can, but don't speed up. Keep her following you, if you can."

"Can't she hear what we're saying?" she asked, fear causing her voice to wobble.

"No, it's not Nadrin anymore. The program relies on the reaction from the visual cortex, sound means nothing to it." Lois continued placing one foot behind the other, yelling in alarm as she tumbled over backwards. Nadrin, or rather the program, saw the lack of the Doctor behind, and stopped momentarily, confused. The smile faded slightly from her pretty features. The Doctor cursed and stepped out from behind Ianto.

"Okay, wait for her to see me again, then we'll do the same, Ianto. Andy, step in on my signal." Nadrin turned slowly, the grin growing again as she spotted the Doctor.

"Right, here we go!" the Doctor muttered, dropping behind Ianto. "Don't go yet, wait for her to catch up a bit."

"How long do we have to keep this up for?" Andy asked wearily. The Doctor frowned at him.

"All night, if necessary. Hopefully the program will become confused and shut down before then." Andy caught the doubt in his voice.

"And if it doesn't?"

"We'll just have to wait and see if I can get through to her. She might still be able to pick up what I say, the program shouldn't notice though." Ianto began to back off instinctively as Nadrin neared him.

Andy prepared himself, taking a deep breath. "I really shouldn't be frightened of a 4 foot teenager," he murmured to himself as he stepped in behind Ianto.

Jack grinned at him despite the gravity of the situation. "I thought all teenagers had knives these days."

Andy just glared at him as the Doctor edged him out from behind Ianto. Andy immediately stepped the wrong way, revealing the Doctor behind. Jack sighed.

"You are utterly useless!" he growled.

"Right, time for plan B," the Doctor whispered, more to himself than to the others. He crouched down before the advancing figure of his companion.

"I've got try and find something which elicits a response from her..." he muttered.

"Try talking about her mother," Anna suggested.

Ianto frowned at her. "That's very insensitive," he reprimanded.

"Exactly," the Doctor replied. He rose and began to back off in pace with his friend, looking directly into her unfocused eyes.

"Nadrin? Are you there? Do you remember your mother, Nadrin? Nadine Rimmer? Can you see her in your mind? Can you picture her?" She continued to advance, not heeding the Doctor's words.

"Please Nadrin, fight back! Think, listen to me! Do you remember what they did to you?" Her smile remained fixed as she kept advancing. The Doctor sighed in frustration.

"It's going to be a long night."

"Can I try something?" Jack said, creeping backwards alongside the Doctor. He started in surprise.

"Where did you come from?"

"Been here a while. I've got an idea."

"Go on then, we've got all night to try out ideas." Jack nodded at him, and stopped retreating, allowing Nadrin to pass by him. He began to follow close behind her, and bent over to whisper into her ear.

"If I said you had a beautiful body, would you hold it against me?" Nadrin's eyes flickered briefly, and the smile faded a touch.

The Doctor looked outraged. "NO! I refuse to let you save my life using innuendo!"

Jack just grinned madly and continued. "D'you know how to swim? I'm great at teaching the breast stroke." Nadrin's eyes shut fully this time, and her brow creased in anger. She stopped dead.

"Bloody hell... Carry on Jack!" Andy whispered. Jack didn't need further encouragement.

"Do you believe in love at first sight...or do I have to walk by again?" Nadrin opened her eyes again, and swayed slightly. The Doctor rushed forward to catch her before she fell. He held her body tightly, before looking up in Jack in horror.

"You absolute... urgh!"

* * *

The team slept for a fitful few hours, waking up much later than Jack would normally consider acceptable, but he was still fast asleep in his office. He rolled over and groaned in his sleep, jerked into wakefulness as his hand touched something hot. He opened his eyes, unsurprised to see Ianto standing by his bedside, who nodded towards the mug in his hand. Jack yawned and stretched, accepted the mug and brought it up to his lips. He opened his mouth to drink but stopped suddenly. He stared at the mug in surprise.

"You fixed my mug?"

"I have spares."

Jack laughed, and fell back against the pillow. "Ianto Jones, you are almost as much of a genius as me."

"You're not going to let us forget last night for a while, are you?"

"Never."

* * *

When Jack finally made his way out of his room, he found the rest of the team had been roused from their slumbers by the Doctor, including a dusty and dishevelled Greg. Jack eyed him in amusement, but jolted as he remembered something.

"Greg, have you told Ianto?"

"Told me what?" Ianto said, looking up in alarm.

Greg blushed. "I broke the coffee machine."

Ianto's jaw dropped in horror.

"What?!"

"It was only the spare one! In the cupboard!"

"But... no!"

Ianto sighed, and turned back to whom he had originally been facing - the Doctor.

"Why did you allow Greg out?" he asked him.

"Because I intend to have this problem solved before nightfall," the Doctor answered, looking pointedly at Jack.

"Right, we need to find a way of taking the program offline. Nadrin's not as strong as she makes out, she won't last much longer if this continues."

"Where IS Nadrin?" Andy asked.

"I sedated her, she's asleep on the sofa at the moment," Greg replied. Andy nodded, and turned to let the Doctor continue.

"I thought we could crash the hard drive, as it were. The data is stored in the white blood cells, red cells are too simple. We need to find a way to wipe these white cells clean of data, restore them or destroy them."

Well then we need a virus," Lois suggested.

The Doctor sighed. "She's not a real computer, Lois, she's-" He paused, and widened his eyes. "Lois Whatsyername, you a genius. A first class, top-of-the-pile, Nobel prize-winning genius. A virus!" He gave one of his trademark inane grins.

"It's Habiba," she replied, glowing with the unexpected praise, but the Doctor didn't notice; he was too busy scouring his brain for a suitable microbe.

Greg cleared his throat. "From the books I've been reading, there's only one virus capable of the task - but it's a huge risk."

"It's even riskier to do nothing," the Doctor retorted, and turned to him, with an almost pleading look on his face.

Greg continued warily. "How many cells do you need to destroy?"

"Just a hundred or so, that should be enough to corrupt the program."

"Well, all I can suggest is we inject a very tiny amount of..." He faltered.

"Go on, please."

Greg composed himself. "A very, very tiny amount of HIV."

* * *

**ö**

**I'll get writing the other chapter now - expect it tomorrow evening, so long as FFN doesn't decide to commit suicide again.**


	10. Chapter 10

**Well, another chapter, as I promised. Just. But hey ho. I'm feeling a bit down due to tiredness, and the fact I lost my first draft of this chapter when the computer blue screened – typically, I thought it was the best I had done so far. This is less good, but I hope it will do, though my beta did run away without giving me any feedback D=**

**Oh, and apologies for decreased chapter length, twasn't intentional, I just lost my creative muse after the BSOD.**

_

* * *

_

Whortleby, 1954

"A week, you said – it's been seven months!"

Vincent smiled for the first time in ages as Jack opened the car door. He stepped out, only to be met by a biting sea wind, mixed with a flurry of small snowflakes. Jack brushed the offending precipitation disdainfully from his uniform.

"Well, you're home now, at least try to be pleased," he joked, though it was rather muffled - his lower face was hidden by a scarf, protecting him from the wild countryside weather. Vincent nodded gratefully and walked up the pathway to his door. He surveyed the garden with surprise, he'd expected it to be overgrown, but the fierce winter had sorted that out for him. Still, the house was a bit of a mess - dirt and grime everywhere. At least he'd have something to do, take his mind off what had happened. He stared at the brass door handle as he pulled the door open - even that held memories. Seven months was not quite enough time to heal what had happened to him, to the whole village. But it was enough time for everyone to pretend to forget.

_

* * *

_

Torchwood Hub, 2010

"HIV? No. No way. I point blank refuse."

The Doctor slammed his fist down onto the table before him, his eyes alight with pain and frustration. Ianto put a consolatory hand on the Doctor's back, and spoke in a soft voice barely above a whisper.

"Sacrifices have to be made - you want to save her, all of us, don't you?"

"Of course! Of course I do... But if you had a daughter, would you knowingly ruin her future?"

"Nadrin's your daughter?"

"As good as. But you wouldn't, would you?"

Ianto paused, holding his breath for a moment. "No. No, I wouldn't. But she can still live a normal life - millions of people do."

The Doctor gave a derisory laugh. "Not the point. There must be another way. There is _always _another way."

Lois coughed gently to attract attention. The Doctor looked at her expectantly, a demanding light in his eyes, as if threatening something dreadful if she didn't come up with the solution. Lois took an involuntary step backwards before offering her information.

"We're not thinking this through. A virus attacks an operating system, but Nadrin _is_ the operating system. We need to uninstall a single program."

The Doctor nodded in agreement, eyes lighting up. "Let's think about this logically. We need to remove the program without disrupting the system, so that's viruses out. The blood is effectively acting as the hard drive, so how do we remove a rogue program?"

"Take some blood out. You know, delete some files," Andy suggested. He gave a random and indistinguishable gesture that looked more like he was suggesting the Doctor chop a carrot.

The Doctor shot him a scathing look. "We'd have to remove all of her blood, she's not an actual computer, she's a biological system. The cells would just reproduce."

Andy sniffed and turned away. "Always works when I delete files. How about a virus scan?"

The Doctor looked at him as if he were totally stupid. "Did you not listen to what I just said? She's a biological system, her immune system has already done that. So we can't delete the files, a 'virus scan' won't work, we can't uninstall it, we can't-" The Doctor's voice caught in his throat. "We can't get rid of it. There's nothing we can do."

Lois coughed again. "Something must cause the program to run, find out what is and stop it."

The Doctor nodded slowly again. "Greg, what could the program pick up on?"

Greg jumped as he was unexpectantly addressed. "Well, uh, it always happens when the body is at rest, so it could be a number of things – slower breathing, slower heart rate, less brain activity."

"Well, the Grixrans only had basic knowledge of the human body, so I'd be really surprised if it wasn't one of those."

"Isn't Nadrin sleeping now?" Ianto added. The Doctor shot a panicked look at Greg.

"It's okay, I sedated her for quite a while, the program needs to brain to be able to operate. We only need to worry if she starts dreaming."

"Well, we'll wake her up then, just in case."

Jack made as if to leave. "I'll fetch her."

The Doctor pushed past him. "No you won't, I will." He jogged out of the medical unit and up to where Nadrin lay sleeping. He gently drew the blanket covering her off, picking up her slim form as if she weighed no more than a feather.

* * *

The team left the workstation for the medical unit - Vincent had been moved to the morgue. Jack had whipped the team into action - there was time to grieve later. Greg already had a drug prepared already when the Doctor arrived back and set her down on the table. He administered the drug as the Doctor watched anxiously from the sidelines. He drew closer as her eyelids flickered, and she lashed out suddenly and began to thrash around, as if having an epileptic fit. He stared at her in alarm.

"Is this normal?" he asked Greg, panic unintentionally raising the volume of his voice.

Greg kept calm as he gently stroked the young girl's forehead. "It's normal, she'll stop soon." The Doctor nodded, unconvinced, but couldn't help a smile as Jack stepped forwards to help restrain her, receiving a sharp kick in the abdomen for his trouble. As if somehow appeased by this, she lay still. Her eyelids flickered again before opening fully. She gave the Doctor an accusing stare.

"Where am I, what have you done?" The Doctor broke down suddenly and fell to his knees by her side. He gave a strangled giggle.

"Same Nadrin I've always known." He held her hand gently, using his free hand to shoo the rest of the team from the room. They trooped out, Lois looking back over her shoulder. The Doctor gave her a stern glare, and she scuttled out.

The Doctor turned to Nadrin and looked directly into her eyes. "Nadrin, something went wrong, seriously wrong."

Her eyes widened, before she settled back. "I know, I didn't take my iron mix. You solved it though, didn't you? I'm fine now, though, you just got some more iron mix from somewhere." She swallowed hard the Doctor shook his head. "You do realise that if you used blood I will have to kill you and eat you?"

The Doctor swallowed even harder.

"Urgh, Doctor! Whose did you use?"

The Doctor shook his head. "Vincent's. But there was a... complication."

"A complication, what kind of complication?"

"The program wasn't stored in the brain as we thought, it was stored in the blood, and now it's in you."

Nadrin mouthed the words back at him, bright green eyes wide open in terror. She fell back onto her jacket, doubling as a pillow, and began to sob. The Doctor increased his grip on her hand, tears squeezing their way from his eyes, despite his attempts to hold himself together.

"I'm so, so, so sorry Nadrin, we had no idea. No idea at all. Please, forgive me Nadrin. We'll make you better, we'll cure you, I promise." The young girl nodded, and raised her green eyes to the Doctor's grey ones. She pleaded to him in a whisper so soft it was barely audible.

"I forgive you, Doctor. Please help me." The Doctor saw the hopeful light mixed with raw terror shining from her eyes, and felt his hearts break in his chest.

"We need to do some tests. Don't worry, we just need to take some basic observations. We need you to relax, lay back, I'll get Greg to set the equipment up."

"Equipment?!"

"Don't worry, just some wires and pressure pads, that sort of thing. Nothing you haven't seen before."

The Doctor watched her nod slowly, turned away and beckoned Greg back in. In silence he began to attach the electrodes and heart monitor to Nadrin. She watched him distrustfully, and took hold of the Doctor's hand again. He squeezed it tight as Greg inserted a needle and administered a diluted dosage of sedative. He worked his way around her shivering body until he could whisper into the Doctor's ear.

"What do we do when the program initiates?"

"We get close enough to inject her with some iron mix - I found some in her jacket."

"It was in her jacket all along?!"

"Don't tell anyone else. It will cause an uproar. Even I can make mistakes." Greg nodded, and took the liquid packs the Doctor offered him.

"Right," Greg said officiously, and turned to set the computers up to record the information that the equipment attached to Nadrin would provide. His hand hovered over the computer as he faltered. His eyes pleaded at the Doctor, who sighed and did it for him. The computer beeped and began to record.

Nadrin settled back and closed her eyes as the drugs began to take effect.

Greg and the Doctor stood in front of the computers, watching the line depicting brain activity showing a decrease. Greg jumped back in horror as the line cut off to zero suddenly.

They turned, and Nadrin smiled widely at them.

"Greg, the iron mix. Greg, quick! GREG!"

Greg stuttered and coughed. "Err, where is it?!"

* * *

**REVIEWS = HAPPY WRITER = PRODUCTIVE WRITER = QUICKER UPDATES**

**Formula shamelessly swiped from Flinch, who half-inched it from... someone else.**


	11. Chapter 11

**I have now learnt my lesson as to reading it properly after it returns from Beta'ing - you may have noticed some of Flinch's comments hadn't been removed. But onwards, another chapter for the delight and delectation of the supposedly 6 people reading this. Those of you who have this on your alerts, but aren't reviewing, help me, please! Just a little tidbit! PLZ! And for the 3 regular reviewers, Lucy (Moonchild94), Rara Saryn and ChellusAuglerie, I love you all. **

**Oh, and does anyone know what on Gallifrey's happened to CommaConcept...? **

* * *

_Torchwood Hub, Cardiff, 2010_

"There, it's behind her." The Doctor calmly indicated a table bearing numerous surgical instruments, obscured from Greg's view by Nadrin's midriff. Nadrin rose fully from the bed, inadvertently knocking the syringe and its precious contents to the floor. The Doctor watched in dismay as the delicate glass shattered, fragments flying across the room while the liquid it had held seeped out onto the floor. Greg coughed in disappointment, then surprise as Nadrin gave an unexpected swipe at him. He leapt backwards, cannoning into the Doctor, and snapping some loose cabling on the equipment they had set up to monitor Nadrin. Sparks began flying from the torn end, but none of the three took any notice. Nadrin advanced on them slowly, the unfamiliar smile again creeping across her face.

"What's she doing, what does she want?" Greg asked, confusion and fear distorting his voice to a pitch higher than its normal level. He was getting close to panic by this point, cursing himself for not making the Doctor explain what had been happening whilst he was, well, indisposed.

"She wants my blood," the Doctor replied bluntly, and ducked in behind Greg. "This is all getting rather repetitive."

Greg nodded automatically as the two began to retreat around the table, followed closely by Nadrin. "Has she done this before? How did you get her out of it?"

"Jack annoyed her, helped her brain override the program."

"How?"

"She didn't find his jokes to her taste."

"Well, tell her some bad jokes then."

"I don't make that sort of joke, it's against my nature."

"Oh. _That_ sort. Is there nothing we can frighten her with, slow her down with?"

The Doctor shook his head, despite being behind Greg's slowly retreating body and therefore out of his line of sight. "It's not Nadrin anymore, the program's taken over. But we can try to slow it down."

Greg took hold of a scalpel from the nearby tray and waved it in front of Nadrin's eyes. She grabbed hold of the sharp blade and wrenched it from Greg's grip, taking no notice of the deep gouges the sharp edge made in her flesh. He looked around wildly for another object to use as a weapon, and noticed the sparking cable he had broken. He picked it up in passing, and waved it in Nadrin's face, the sparks reflecting in her eyes.

The Doctor looked at him in shock. "Don't hurt her, it's still Nadrin behind that smile!"

Greg frowned in response. "I won't, I'm just trying to make her back off a bit." He grunted in surprise as the cable was also ripped from his grip. Nadrin's bloodied hands closed around the open end, and sprang open as the electricity surged around her body. The smile the program had pasted on her face faded and was replaced by a frown. She looked down at the blood staining her hands and her clothes, took a step back and collapsed.

"Greg, what have you done?!" The Doctor charged towards his fallen companion, slipping slightly on the mixture of blood and iron mix on the floor. He checked her pulse, and sighed with relief when he found it, throbbing fiercely through her neck. Greg just stood behind him, immobile, staring at the sparking cable in horror. He snapped out of his reverie when the Doctor kicked his shin from the floor.

"Oi! You're the medical man, help her!" Greg nodded in silence, bent down and examined the deep cuts on her palms. Crossing to a cupboard he removed a roll of bandages, and expertly bound them tightly around Nadrin's hands. Greg helped the Doctor lift her gently onto the table, and proceeded to check her vital signs.

"Why did the electricity close the program?" he asked as he worked, shining a small light into her eyes.

The Doctor shook his head. "Must be something to do with the program shutting down if something abnormal is detected." He turned to the computer which had logged the data from their experiment.

"Wait, why did the program run fully if you sedated her?"

Greg didn't look up. "It was only a weak dose, it wasn't enough to make her sleep, just feel drowsy. Exhaustion did the rest." The Doctor nodded in acknowledgement and turned back to the readings.

"Heart rate was almost constant, in fact it rose slightly just as the program initiated. She was breathing about the same rate too." The Doctor let a small smile creep across his face, banishing the worried frown. "Brain activity decreased steadily, then rose sharply when the program initiated. Maybe the program measures the electric signals, and-"

The Doctor stopped talking and turned to Greg triumphantly. Greg grinned in relief, and looked towards the now still cable.

"The increased voltage must have confused the program, shut it down, and it can only start when the brain detects electric current below a certain value!"

Greg checked the values the computer was spewing out. "30 microvolts, approximately." The Doctor nodded, and stroked his friend's bandages absent-mindedly.

"It's only a temporary solution, but it's a solution none the less. I'll have to rig up some sort of device which she can wear at night, runs a small charge through her body, fooling the program." The Doctor jumped in the air and clapped his hands. Greg chuckled at his antics, and looked up as Jack and the others re-entered the medical facility. Jack took a quick glance at the mess on the floor, but declined to comment. He turned to the Doctor.

"Is the program gone? It is over now?"

The Doctor made to nod, but shook his head instead. "It's not gone, but I can stop it before it runs. We'll probably never get rid of it entirely, but we're safe now, as is she."

Lois stared at the bloodsoaked bandages on Nadrin's hands, slowly drying in the air. "What happened to her?"

"Took hold of a knife, she didn't know what she was doing," Greg replied, checking the bandages. Lois, Greg and Andy jumped as the Doctor clapped his hands loudly.

"Right, that's that problem solved, but there's another one left. Why did I end up in Whortleby when I was aiming for the UNIT complex near London?"

Jack swallowed a snigger and replied straight faced. "Bad piloting, probably."

The Doctor glared at him, and shook his head. "I vehemently deny such allegations. Something dragged us off course, usually some sort of electromagnetic wave. Did you pick up anything odd when in Whortleby?"

Ianto stepped forwards and produced his PDA. "I was trying to get a fix on the waves when you arrived. Some kind of microwave. Did the waves comes from Vincent?"

"Wouldn't have thought his body could stand that amount of radiation, but I suppose it had been messed about with by alien technology. Greg, have you checked Nadrin for similar signs?"

"Yeah, Ianto suggested it earlier," Greg replied, fetching the readings from a desk on the other side of the room. "Nothing substantial, just occasional bursts. I don't know how to adjust the equipment to show the direction or angle of the waves, though." He looked at Ianto, who shook his head.

"They'll be random. I'll check and see whether it has the same frequency and wavelength as the radiation I detected." He shifted his position to join Greg and the Doctor by Nadrin's head.

"Lots of the same radiation here. It's probably coming from Nadrin, but I'd guess it was going both ways."

The Doctor nodded in agreement. "To and fro, carrying information between the host of the program and the crashed Grixran ship. I'll get the UNIT boys to recover it, and turn the signal off. Won't be a problem."

Anna gave a scathing smile. "It's Torchwood, it's never easy."

The Doctor smiled back. "I'm not Torchwood though. I'm just me."

"And that makes a difference how?" The Doctor spun round as Nadrin hauled herself into a sitting position. She yelped in shock as the Doctor flung his arms around her in an almighty hug.

"Mmf, ge' off m'!"

The Doctor lessened his grip, and Nadrin hugged him back, but gasped with pain as her hands touched the Doctor's back. She let go and looked at her bandaged hands.

"What happened?"

"Lots of things, nothing to worry about though." The Doctor gave an inane grin, and finally let the sigh of relief that had built up inside him escape. Nadrin adjusted the bandages on her hands to make them more comfortable before replying.

"So it's over, has the program gone?"

"Sort of. It won't bother you any more, I know how to stop it running before it starts." Nadrin nodded slowly, clearly unconvinced. Finally she sighed and let the Doctor continue to hug her.

"It's lucky I trust you, really."

The Doctor grinned happily. "When you're strong enough, we'll get going. I still need to see my friends at UNIT, but after that it's back to the stars and galaxies again."

Nadrin dug her knee into the Doctor's abdomen. "What do you mean, not strong enough. I'm fine. Can we go now?"

The Doctor could only gasp, winded. Jack grinned and shook Nadrin warmly by the hand.

"You're just my kind of girl. You're free to visit any time you like, no need to bring that old grouch along." He tried to tickle her under the chin, but she clamped her teeth into his hand. The Doctor coughed and spluttered as he failed to stop the laughter bubbling up.

* * *

The English Channel, near Cherbourg, 2010

The driving rain had no affect on Arnaud - 20 years at sea meant that he had gotten used to such things. His little fishing vessel rode the waves well, as it had done for his father, and his father before him. Lightning split the sky, and a peal of thunder reverberated around the air. Despite the lightning's warning, Arnaud still jumped in shock. He shook his head and cursed himself for a fool. Bending his head to offer some respite from the rain in his eyes, he pulled himself along the deck to the winch. The ancient machinery creaked as he turned the handle, and the nets began to rise from the sea bed and make their way on board, entwining the unfortunate creatures within.

"Il n'y a pas beaucoup de poissons dans les filets ce soir!" he shouted above the wind to his companion, Emmanuel. The young man made his way out of the cabin and tutted at their disappointing catch.

"Attends, qu'est ce que c'est? Il ya une lumière verte dans l'eau!" he yelled, pointing at a bright green light shining from the depths. Arnaud gazed into the distance suspiciously, before pulling himself together and taking the wheel. The boat belched forth a cloud of thick, evil smelling smoke, and groaned ominously as it neared the source of the light. Arnaud left the cabin, and made his way aft, where Emmanuel was leaning over the side of the boat. Shielding his dark brown eyes from the persistent precipitation, Arnaud joined him. They gazed wordlessly into the sea, but were sent crashing backwards as a bolt of energy shot up from the waves. The energy wave slammed into their bodies, tossing them backwards onto the deck. Emmanuel vaguely felt the thud as his spine smashed into the wooden deck before he slipped into unconsciousness.

Arnaud lay on his back, the dark grey of the clouds contrasting with the bright lime green of his eyes.

* * *

** I can't speak a word of French, sorry, that may be utter bullshit. Googled it XD. But Flinch did French, so blame mistakes on her, actually. I'm totally innocent.**


	12. Chapter 12

**I've written some more, but I'm feeling depressed and miserable. Sorry, it may be total crap for all I know.**

* * *

Jack watched with a wistful smile as the Doctor and Nadrin made their way to the doors of the now sparkling TARDIS. Lois, Andy and Anna had accompanied Jack to the Plass to bid the Doctor farewell, while Ianto got busy in the archives and Greg cleaned up the mess they had left behind. The Doctor rummaged around in his pocket for a while, checking to make sure he had all his bits and pieces, whilst Nadrin tapped her foot impatiently behind him.

"Alas! Where's Benny?!"

Nadrin hit him hard on the arm. "For fuck's sake!"

"Language, Nadrin," the Doctor said severely, before producing a rubber duck from his trouser pocket. "Aha! Here he is!"

Nadrin shook her head, and slapped his wrist. "Let's just go, it's not as if you'll miss anything if you left it behind."

"Of course I'd miss stuff," he scoffed, and turned as if to move into the TARDIS, but Jack's cough halted him. The Doctor turned, and Jack presented him with his sonic screwdriver, a small panflute, a rolling pin, 2 yoyos and a bottle of ale.

The Doctor sniffed and collected his items. "Knew that, just testing." He shook Jack warmly by the hand, and saluted the others.

"Farewell, my friends, may we meet again soon!" He twirled his way into the TARDIS with a flourish, slamming the door behind him. There was a short pause, before the door opened tentatively.

"Err, sort of forgot Nadrin." He flinched as Nadrin's jacket smacked him in the face, and stepped aside to allow Nadrin inside.

Jack grinned. "You can leave her here if you like, I'm sure we'll find her a position-"

"You've done that one!" the Doctor shouted through the TARDIS doors. Jacked frowned, then remembered the purple bruise on his shin. He turned to his team.

"Right, back inside with you, I'm sure there's some work for you somewhere."

* * *

The Doctor skipped up to the centre console and stroked it lovingly. "I've missed you, diddums," he whispered to her softly, and gave her a little pat.

"You certainly wouldn't miss me like that," Nadrin retorted, throwing her jacket onto the reinstated hat-stand. The Doctor made as if to stroke her hair, but she grabbed hold of his outstretched limb and held it away from her.

"Try that and I'll snap it off," she growled, and the Doctor gave her a look of mock terror, before letting the inane grin return to his features.

"So, sweetiepie, where shall we go now?" He danced out of the way and Nadrin tried to shove him playfully.

"Well gramps, perhaps-" Her reply was cut off by a knock at the door. The Doctor frowned in confusion, and opened the door via the console control. Ianto poked his head inside.

"Err, message from UNIT. You'd better hear this." The Doctor sighed in frustration and stalked out of the TARDIS in a huff, while Nadrin ran behind him, giggling all the way.

* * *

A short while later, the whole team plus time travellers were gathered inside the boardroom, whilst Ianto prepared a video link to UNIT's headquarters. The screen flickered briefly before the picture settled. Jack stalked to the front of the room and addressed the young man shown, who was dressed in the green overalls and red cap of UNIT.

"Make this quick, Sergeant Benton-"

"You what?!" The whole room turned and looked at the Doctor, surprised at his outburst.

"I'll ask you not to interrupt, whoever you are," Sergeant Benton reprimanded him. "State your name and rank."

The Doctor ignored him. "That's not Sergeant Benton." Jack raised his eyebrows in surprise, while the man on the screen just looked confused. The Doctor continued. "Perhaps you should state YOUR name."

The man shook his head, but replied anyway. "Sergeant George Benton. And don't talk to your superiors in that fashion."

The Doctor coughed. "Sorry, confused you with Sergeant John Benton, and don't YOU talk to your superiors like that. At least, I think I'm still on UNIT's books..."

Sergeant Benton blinked a few times, but did nothing more to register his surprise. "John Benton was my father. And could you please state your name and rank, sir."

The Doctor smiled at the Sergeant's change of demeanour. "The Doctor, Scientific Advisor. Last reported for duty in... 1994, I think."

Benton raised his eyebrows and continued. "That solves one problem, sir. I was instructed by the Brigadier to try and see if Torchwood had any recent sightings of you. The problem is, sir-"

"Hey, you're supposed to be addressing me, that's who the message was for," Jack interrupted, jealousy and irritation creeping into his voice.

Benton nodded, and continued. "ONUR have reported a series of unexplained deaths in Cherbourg and surrounding villages, and that several men have experienced a change in eye colour, all of them-"

"Going bright green," the Doctor finished. "What's ONUR?"

"Organisation des Nations Unies Renseignement. French version of UNIT. All the men are fishermen, and ONUR's researchers 'stumbled' across your reports to UNIT about what Torchwood had investigated."

The Doctor again sighed in frustration.

"So you want us to traipse our way across the sea to France?"

"Yes, sir. We'll use one of our transport ferries, docked at our-"

"Do we all need to go, or just a select few?" Jack butted in, crossing his arms.

"Up to you," Benton replied.

"Why does the Doctor get a 'sir' when I don't?"

Benton cleared his throat as if to reply, and cut the connection.

"Bitch," Jack said under his breath and turned to his team members. "Andy, Anna, Greg, you look after the hub. Oh, and Ceinwen."

Greg's brow creased into a bemused frown. "Ceinwen?"

"The Pteranadon."

Greg nodded in recognition, and Jack smiled at him, before turning to the other two he'd mentioned. "I assume you two are okay?"

"I've had enough of running away for a couple of days. Besides, it's not like we have a choice, it it?" Andy said, and Jack nodded in reply. He turned to Anna, who simply nodded.

"Right, that's settled then," Jack announced, and left the room. The Doctor turned to Nadrin.

"Looks like we get a holiday in France then!" Nadrin grinned excitedly, as did Lois.

* * *

Sergeant Benton watched as a UNIT branded truck pulled up in the dockyard. The door flew open and the Doctor jumped out, followed by Nadrin, who had somehow procured a bright red UNIT cap which she wore proudly, if lopsidedly, on her hair. The oversized cap slipped over her eyes as she jumped out of the truck, but she was too giddy with excitement to notice. The SUV roared up and skidded to a halt, perilously close to the Doctor, who didn't flinch. Lois threw the door open and collapsed against the car door, gasping for air.

The Doctor frowned as Jack got out from the driver's side. "So that's why they didn't want you to drive back in Whortleby..."

Jack ignored him and strode over to Sergeant Benton. Benton gave a mock salute as he approached, and Jack winked at him.

"You're a lot prettier without your hat," Jack said, and Benton forced a smile at him. He turned and addressed the UNIT men behind him. "Load that police box into the hold, the car too." The two men showed no signs of bewilderment as they saluted and got down to their tasks.

* * *

The Doctor, Nadrin and Ianto stood leaning over the bow rail as the ferry rode the waves to France, while Jack and Lois were below decks checking the equipment - why exactly, Nadrin couldn't work out, since if they had forgotten something they couldn't turn back and get it. The three had an interesting variety of expressions; the Doctor looked bored, Nadrin was yet to contain her excitement at yet another new experience, and Ianto looked grumpy.

Nadrin nudged Ianto gently with her elbow. "What are you so miserable about? I've heard France is supposed to be good!"

Ianto shrugged. "I prefer Cardiff."

Nadrin sniffed at him. "Misery guts." She tore up the sandwich that the duty cook had lovingly prepared and threw it into the wind, where a flock of seagulls threw themselves upon them. She giggled as they fought over the crusts and circled overhead, waiting for another scrap. She lobbed the rest skywards, and turned away to gaze down into the depths. The Doctor murmured something to himself, drawing her attention, but he didn't seem to notice, and kept gazing up at the gathering rain clouds, his face pensive. Her mood slightly dampened by the two melancholy faces either side of her, Nadrin turned back to the sea and watched the mackerel shoals picking off the bits of bread the gulls had missed.

* * *

Night had fallen by the time the ferry docked in the sea docks operated by ONUR. Men called out as the gangway was lowered, and Jack and the rest descended onto French soil. They were led off towards their accommodation, bright flashlights blinding them. Nadrin held the Doctor's hand as the French soldiers marching towards the barracks threatened to trample her. He brought her to himself protectively, slipping slightly on the wet mud.

They finally arrived at a small wooden building, where they were met by an ONUR sergeant. He threw them a quick salute, which was returned by Jack and the Doctor, and the team entered the building in silence. Lois eyed the exterior apprehensively, but was heartened by the homely decoration of the interior. She started as the French sergeant addressed them from the doorway.

"Your accommodation is here, it's usually used by brigadiers and generals, but we've saved it for your visit." Jack nodded gratefully to him, but the man continued. "I have been ordered to escort Captain Jack Harkness and the Doctor to the medical wing." Jack and the Doctor looked at each other in surprise, but left together anyway.

Lois opened the door nearest to her. "Looks like they're doubles. We'd better arrange rooms."

Nadrin stepped into the room, and slung her jacket onto the bed nearest her. "I'll share with the Doctor, he never sleeps anyway." She shut the door behind her. Lois looked at Ianto, who blushed slightly. Lois gave him a small smile.

"There's no way I'm sharing with Jack," she said, and winked at Ianto. She slipped into the room opposite the one that Nadrin had taken, leaving Ianto stood on his own in the hallway.

* * *

Jack and the Doctor kept close behind the ONUR sergeant as he led the way to the medical wing, inside a building not far from where they were staying. The three kept in silence as they walked, Jack throwing the occasional apprehensive glance at the Doctor. The ONUR sergeant threw the doors open, and they walked in. The lights were switched on, illuminating rows of beds. Jack counted 14 occupied beds, all of them men. The Doctor raised his eyebrows as the men all sat up in unison and turned to look at them, their bright green eyes showing up clearly in the dimly lit room. Jack threw an uneasy glance at him as the 14 men dissolved into atoms, there was a rush of wind out of the door, and they were gone.

* * *

**Thar you go. Flinch claimed to be confused by a few things, if you are, point them out and I'll explain better next chapter or in my A/Ns.**

**Oh, and reviews seem to be increasing. This pleases me - unless I'm really tired and still have Maths to do, which rather negates their pleasing effect =(**


	13. Chapter 13

**ARGH. Many apologies about the lack of update yesterday, but you can blame that on Flinch for going offline instead of beta'ing my chapter. She didn't even upload anything herself. Such failings.**

**But, it's my longest chapter yet and a bit lighter too. So hurrahs!**

* * *

Ianto woke up to see the sunshine streaming through the thin curtains masking the bedroom he had chosen. He rolled over and checked the other bed to see if Jack had slept it in. To his surprise it had been pushed up against his own, and although the covers were strewn about the place, Jack was nowhere to be seen. Ianto rolled over onto his back and stared at the floral lampshade hanging from the ceiling. The room was pleasant enough, he supposed. The walls were a pale cream, matched with yellow bedspreads. The two doors were made of a light coloured wood - pine perhaps - one led to the hallway whilst the other led to a clinically clean ensuite bathroom. Ianto also noticed a kettle sitting on the windowsill, but tutted in disappointment at the lack of coffee. Or mugs. Or milk. Or anything to warrant the room having a kettle. Ianto imagined there being a coffee machine there instead. Now that would have been heaven...

He was jerked back to reality when the alarm clock beeped loudly, the luminous digital display revealing the time to be quarter past seven. He rose slowly and made his way to the ensuite, finally able to wash the mud and grime of the past few days away.

* * *

The sun was high in the sky by the time Nadrin was woken by a knock on the door. She yawned widely and stretched, noting the time on clock on the bedside table. The clock was identical to the one in Ianto's room, and by now was displaying ten minutes past ten. Nadrin flung the covers to the ground and unclipped the electrical device the Doctor had made her. He'd made it in the fashion of a wristwatch, with some fancy-looking wiring system encased in a clear plastic cover, with two electrodes against the skin of her wrist. It was comfortable, and Nadrin didn't mind wearing it - though she knew she had no choice. She placed the device carefully on the bedside to table to avoid damaging it, and forced herself to walk over to the door, noting the unused bed by the window - the Doctor had remained awake, as per usual. She lethargically opened the door to reveal Captain Jack, holding a tray of breakfast. He gave her a typical grin and a salute, balancing the tray on one hand.

"Doctor sends you breakfast and morning greetings," he announced, and thrust the heavily laden tray into Nadrin's hands. Her eyes lit up, and she grabbed the tray eagerly, placing it down on the wooden chest of drawers behind her.

"Eggs, bacon, toast, tomatoes, sausages, orange juice – the Doctor knows just what to feed me." She turned back to Jack to thank him, smiling her prettiest smile. That was swiftly replaced with a frown when he seemed more interested by what was going on up her nightdress than leaving.

"Fuck off." She slammed the door in his face and turned to the food.

* * *

It was nearing midday when Nadrin emerged from her room at last, having finally eaten, washed and dressed herself. She picked up the crumpled scrap of paper which had been pushed under the door, noticing the Doctor's spidery handwriting on the outside of the fold, addressing it to her. She unfolded the sheet and read Jack's scrawl inside.

_Nadrin,_

_Meet us soon in the canteen (last door on the left)_

_Doctor wants you to go to Paris with Lois_

_Don't get dressed if you don't want to,_

_Love,_

_Jack._

She crushed the note into a ball, stuffed it into her jacket pocket and stepped into the corridor, almost walking slap bang into Lois, who had also only just arisen. They nodded a greeting to each other, and walked together in silence to the canteen.

* * *

Jack and the Doctor were talking together in hushed tones, whilst Ianto read a paper. They looked up as the door opened and the two late risers sauntered in. Nadrin flung the empty tray in Jack's general direction, before placing the used crockery down gently before the Doctor. Jack caught the tray deftly before it hit in on the nose and put it on the table alongside the crockery. Nadrin pulled up a chair and sat down next to the Doctor, while Lois took the empty chair next to Ianto.

"I didn't know you could read French," Lois said the him, nodding towards the newspaper.

Ianto frowned. "It's in English."

"What, Le Monde?"

Ianto closed the paper and looked at the title, before looking instinctively up at the Doctor, who nodded at him.

"It's the TARDIS, translating for us. Gets into our heads."

Nadrin decided to change the subject. "What's Paris, and why are Lois and me going there?" she asked, adjusting her thick woollen jumper about her neck.

"Lois and I," the Doctor corrected between gulps of tea.

"What? The note said Lois and me!"

"No, silly, grammar. And would you like some onions to go with that jumper?"

Nadrin glanced down at her black and white striped jumper, before looking at the Doctor as if he were mad. He chuckled and shook his head.

"French stereotypes, I'd change that jumper if I were you, they might think you're taking the mick," he suggested, and finished off the rest of his tea with a long draught. Jack opened his mouth to make her a suggestion, but the Doctor's glare warned him to keep silent.

He saw fit to continue. "Lois is going off to the Paris headquarters of ONUR to compile reports on what they already know, and where exactly they've had deaths. You're going with her to help, and you can do a bit of sight-seeing in the city during your lunch break, if you like." Nadrin beamed widely at him, and Lois failed to suppress herself from smiling.

Jack sighed. "So while those two are gallivanting around Paris, what are we going to do?"

"Well, Benton said he'd brief us with the rest of UNIT in the boardroom in about half an hour." Jack and Ianto nodded, and ordered themselves a small lunch (with coffee) for while they waited.

* * *

The ONUR sergeant who had shown them in the night before was again on hand to help Lois and Nadrin find the car waiting for them - a 1950 Rolls Royce Phanton IV. Lois grinned in delight as the back door was opened for them, and they clambered inside. Nadrin carefully checked her pockets for her important possessions, her iron mix and wrist-device-thing of course, plus some diet coke, eye-liner, a camera (the greatest invention ever, she thought) and an iPod - all of which she had picked up on their travels in 20th or 21st century Earth. It was when she 'bought' the iPod that the Doctor had become rather exasperated and said she was turning into '21st Century Society's Bitch'. She had no idea what that meant, so she let it slide.

The journey to Paris wasn't too long or arduous, and they arrived in the late afternoon - too late to start work at ONUR's headquarters (what a terrible shame, Nadrin thought). The pair of them set off into the city, too late to shop but too early to eat, so they sat on the grass in the Champ de Mars - near to the underground headquarters of ONUR - and gazed up at the iron girders of the Eiffel tower.

"What's it for?" Nadrin asked Lois, watching some pigeons circling around the tower, mere specks in the sky.

Lois paused, stuck for an answer. "Err... it's not for anything, really. Just to look at, I suppose."

Nadrin wrinkled her nose. "What's the point in that? Doctor says there's a purpose for everything."

"Perhaps the French are just weird," Lois replied, earning her a few angry glances from the locals around them.

* * *

The boardroom was just next door to the canteen, so the three representing Torchwood arrived dead on time, while various UNIT and ONUR stragglers made their way in. Sergeant Benton swept into the room and sat himself down next to the Doctor, while another UNIT officer took the floor, along with a translator.

"That's Colonel Black, Captain Mike Yates' nephew," Benton whispered to the Doctor, who looked at Colonel Black in surprise.

"Well, did better than his uncle then," the Doctor whispered back, and fell silent as Black began to speak.

"Evening men. UNIT have responded to ONUR's call for assistance, as have a section of Torchwood 3. UNIT have little prior knowledge of this case, but Torchwood have had similar issues on a smaller scale."

During Black's speech Ianto and Jack had been laughing to themselves at how the translator was seemingly repeating Black's words, due to the TARDIS's influence. The surrounding UNIT and ONUR officers glared at them, and they kept silent.

"I'd like to ask the Doctor, temporary Torchwood assistant and UNIT scientific advisor to give a brief explaination."

The Doctor snapped his head round to glare at Jack. "Did you know about this?!"

Jack nodded, and pushed the Doctor out of his seat. The Doctor steadied himself, cleared his throat and marched up to the podium. He adjusted his homburg hat, and leant into the microphone.

"Riiight, well. What do we know? The Grixran program was written by, err, well, Grixrans. They're from the planet Grixr, and wrote the program to protect their species. The last of the Grixrans crashed into the sea near here during the Second World War, and the ship discharges energy which installs the program into humans.

"The program feeds on memories and reactions in the mind, hence people 'infected' by the program kill their loved ones, but don't know they're doing it, other than to increase the concetration of iron ions in the blood. Though, it's not contagious or anything, only direct influence from the Grixran ship can install the program. The program also allows the body to break down into molecules and transport over short distances. The program's hold over the brain isn't particularly strong, so if it gets confused it shuts down. Easiest and best way to confuse it is electricity, a taser or something.

"My friend is affected by the Grixran program, but she sleeps with a small device that runs a minute charge through her, stopping the program running. So yeah, perhaps we should all carry tasers." There was a smattering of applause, and the Doctor stepped down and swept back to his seat between Jack and Benton.

Colonel Black took the stage again, and stared severely out at the assembled troops. "Plans of action; UNIT and ONUR will take different missions. UNIT will lead a mission to the crashed craft and stop the signal. ONUR will patrol the streets and attempt to stop infected people if they can. UNIT's mission will begin tomorrow, ONUR will start this evening. All men in the hospital wing have been wired up as the Doctor suggested, but latest intelligence suggests there are another 6 infected people in Cherbourg, and we need to stop them spreading around the country." Black stood down, and the meeting broke up as UNIT and ONUR soldiers left the room and went back to the barracks for a short rest period.

* * *

It was beginning to get dark in Paris as Lois and Nadrin made their way to the accommodation provided, a hotel overlooking the Champ de Mars. Nadrin yawned widely and she and Lois walked slowly along, both of them fatigued by the hard graft of the past few days. Lois was just glad that they'd managed to get themselves a desk job this time - nothing too strenuous. Nadrin stopped suddenly and looked back at the tower behind them. In the gloom it had been illuminated by countless lights, and Nadrin found it rather pretty, really.

Lois stopped also and turned back to Nadrin. "What are you doing? Come on, it's getting dark."

Nadrin shook her head. "You go on, I won't be a minute. I just want to take some pictures, the Doctor said none of his companions ever took photos. He thinks it's a shame, and I should save my memories. Just in case..." Lois nodded understandingly and carried on.

Nadrin pulled the digital camera out of her pocket. The memory card could store billions of images - the Doctor had modified it so. She had the entirety of her adventures with the Doctor stored on a little card the size of her fingernail, and she loved it. Anything she forgot about, she looked back on, and now she could add another chapter to her visual diary. She only took a couple of snaps - her photography was improving constantly, and the chances of a good photo were higher than before.

She put the camera back in her pocket and turned to follow Lois, but stopped mid-turn. She noticed a pair of dark, furtive figures hiding in the shadows - they seemed to be wearing a military uniform... When they noticed they'd been spotted they approached her aggressively. Nadrin made is if to turn and run, but another two men had appeared behind her. The larger of the two slapped his hand down on her shoulder, and she turned her lime green eyes up to look up to his dark ones. He smiled, and put his hand into his pocket, pulling out a radio transmitter.

"Captain, I've found one in Paris. No, she hasn't turned yet. Over." He waited for a reply. "Of course, sir."

He looked over Nadrin's head and nodded at the man behind her. The other man winked back at him.

Nadrin screamed in agony as 50,000 volts hit her in the back.

* * *

**Alas! Next chapter tomorrow, hopefully. **


	14. Chapter 14

**Macroapologies to Megafailings, I'm sorry. I was at a football match (which is mightily unusual) and (Oh, it was proper football - you know, where you kick the ball and it goes in a net) then my cousin turned up and yeah - didn't get time to write yesterday. Barely got time to write today, but I did - but it's not been beta'ed. Flinched buggered off and I didn't want to do a CC (hint hint) and disappear without trace. But to make up for it it's 155% percent longer than average!**

* * *

_Cherbourg, 2010_

"If that's you Renard, I'm going to slap you into the middle of next week!"

Marie threw her wine glass to the floor, and stormed off to the front door, grabbing a rolling pin on her way. Her husband's back was turned to her, but at least he was upright - normally if he came in after such a late hour, it was because he'd been getting plastered with the rest of the crew. At least she didn't have to put up with it when he was at sea for half the year. Renard closed the door gently behind him and locked it, but didn't turn round.

"If you even think about putting your hands anywhere near my dress, you'll regret it," Marie shouted at his back. That was usually the way - go out, get pissed, come back and shag the wife - she generally stopped complaining once her knickers were off - there was at least one thing that was improved by his drinking. The young woman blew a stray fair hair from her face, and waited for her equally young husband to turn and face her. Her mother has said they were too young to marry, and why should they bother if Renard was at sea all the time? They couldn't have children if Renard was out chasing fish, she'd said. Though, that had given Marie an idea - if she got herself pregnant, there was no way Renard would keep leaving her. Despite all the arguments and the fighting and the shouting, she really loved him.

And he loved her.

The last things Marie saw were her husbands bright green eyes as her own rolling pin smashed into her temple.

* * *

_Somewhere Under Paris, 2010_

Nadrin groaned as she returned to the agony of consciousness. She was lying on her back, staring up at the ceiling - at least she would be, if she could see in the dark, if it was darkness, perhaps she was blind, what had they done to her!  
Nadrin screwed her eyes shut and slowed her breathing, striving to stop her panic developing into an actual panic attack. She took a deep breath, rolled over on the hard surface she was laying on and was rewarded by a chink of light from under the door. She sighed in relief and fell back on the miserable excuse for a matress she was lying on. She lay still and listened for a while, hearing nothing from outside the door.

"Hello...?" She swung her legs off the bed and walked to the light.

"HELLO? ANYONE THERE?!" Her shouts were met with silence, which was eventually broken by sharp taps of boot on concrete. The taps approached the door of the cell - at least, Nadrin thought it was a cell - and stopped suddenly outside the door.

"Quiet, Prisoner #69. You will be dealt with later." The footsteps receded, and Nadrin was left in silence again. She removed her jacket and scrunched it up as a makeshift pillow - it was surprisingly comfortable. Either that, or she'd used it so many times she was used to it. Her eyelids closed over her luminous green eyes and she tried to drift off back to sleep, but they snapped open again and she sat bold upright.

"Could I at least have a different number? PLEASE?!"

* * *

Lois drowsily opened the door to the hotel room she was supposed to be sharing with Nadrin. Despite her promise Nadrin had not caught her up, and in her tired state this rather irritated her. She pushed the door open - was it supposed to be that heavy? - and collasped onto the nearest bed. The door swung shut on its own, the slam stopping her falling asleep there and then. Using almost useless limbs and extreme willpower she pulled herself upright and began to get ready for bed. She failed to supress a smile at her tired eyes, the bags formed beneath them betraying just how exhausted she was. Hopefully working for Jack wouldn't be this tiring all the time - then again, with Torchwood she hadn't expected any less. Without a second thought for her companion she dragged herself towards the invitingly soft matress and flopped upon it, falling instantly into a sleep far deeper than dreams could penetrate.

* * *

Sergeant Benton met the Doctor and Jack by the docks where they had arrived after their boat ride from England. He was carrying a pair of rucksacks, which he threw towards the two men.

"Rations, tools, et cetera." The Doctor caught his and strapped it to his back, while Jack elected to carry his. He looked around the docks, as if looking for something.

"Where's Ianto?" Benton smiled at him and pointed towards the submarine. "He got here a while back. He asked me to add a flask of coffee to the packs. Can't remember whose is whose, though." He shifted his own pack across the one shoulder he was carrying it on and strode off to the sub, with the Doctor and Jack following in his wake. The former looked around at the large number of UNIT men in surprise.

"You can't let this many people go, what if the ship releases more of those energy waves?"

Benton smiled again. "The sub's coated in lead and reinforced with steel. It should prevent any electromagnetic waves penetrating the hull. Ianto gave us an idea of the wavelength and frequency and we tested it."

Jack raised his eyebrows. "Lead? Is that a bit, you know, heavy?"

Benton gave yet another smile, much to Jack's irritation. "You're not the only ones who scavenge alien technology."

The Doctor snorted. "I thought UNIT preferred to call it requisitioned?"

"Same difference," Benton said, and crossed the gangway to board the sub. Jack sighed and followed him, with the Doctor close behind.

* * *

Ianto was fiddling with his PDA when Jack poked his head into the aperture where he had hidden himself. He turned his equipment off and looked up at Jack expectantly, but Jack said nothing.

"Just checking some things," Ianto muttered, breaking the silence. He stepped out of the hold and followed Jack to the control centre, where the Doctor was sipping a mug of coffee and talking to Sergeant Benton.

"What powers this sub?" he was asking the UNIT man, who simply shrugged in reply.

"Someone told me it was diesel," Ianto ventured, and a man in a French Naval uniform nodded in agreement.

"Anyway, to more pressing matters. What's the plan?" Jack asked, shoving Benton aside in order to join the Doctor on the bench they were sitting on. The Doctor spluttered into his beverage in protest, but regained his composure enough to reply.

"Harrumph. Well, When we make it to the ship we're going to use cameras and check on the level of damage - if we can get the craft to the surface in one piece, we'll try. UNIT and ONUR want to study it. If all's well we four will use a small sub to venture in and find what's transmitting the signal, and turn it off. Destroy it, rather."

"Why can't we dive down?" Jack enquired, gazing round at the interior of the french submarine. "Isn't this a bit much?"

The Doctor tutted in dispair. "You don't think enough, that's your problem. Just rush in all guns blazing. The signal has been infecting people left, right and centre and you want to just march up to it? We'll be protected in the sub."

Jack nodded in agreement. "So why does he need to come?" He indicated Benton with a nod of his head.

The Doctor sighed this time. "Do you know how to pilot the sub?"

"I'd work it out eventually."

"By which time we'd be milling around in Swiss waters."

Ianto frowned. "The Swiss don't have waters."

"Exactly!" The Doctor gulped the rest of the coffee down, missing the confused look passed between Jack and Ianto.

"Right, off to sleeping quarters, we've got a long day tomorrow." The Doctor rose and swept passed them, in the direction of the aforementioned dormitories.

* * *

Nadrin was jerked back to wakefulness some time around midday - but it was hard to tell the time, or indeed that she was awake at all. The thick gloom engulfed her as she threw herself out of bed and wandered over to the now open door. She ventured out and found herself flanked by two burly men - ONUR men.

"At last, you've come for me. Did you tell them it was all a mix-up?"

The two ONUR men looked at each other in confusion. The taller of the two looked down on the small girl. "Her brains must have been addled. Let's take her to the colonel for questioning, or he'll addle _our_ brains." The other ONUR man chuckled and took Nadrin's left arm. Nadrin growled at him and bit his hand forcefully.

"Ouch! Little bitch!" He struck her across the face, and she fell backwards. She was sprawled on the floor only briefly, before leaping up and kicking the other ONUR man hard in the calf. He yelped and struck out instinctively, catching her with a heavy blow to the side of the head. Nadrin's eyes fluttered momentarily as her head hit the wall with a sickening crunch, and she slid to floor in a senseless heap.

* * *

She woke up in a dimly lit room, handcuffed to a stout wooden chair. She pulled hard on the metal that bound her, cutting deep rivets into her skin. She slumped back and sighed brokenly, tears of pain and despair squeezing out of her eyes.

"I'd stop if I were you - you won't get free." She looked up at the voice, and met the stern eyes of a senior ONUR officer. He stared at her severely over the top of the small spectacles perched on the end of his nose, and sniffed at her. Normally Nadrin would have been enraged, but she was too tired for anger now. She turned her head as a shadow loomed over her - it was the ONUR soldier whom she had bitten. He slapped her across the face and she cried out in shock and fear. The officer frowned.

"They'll be no more of that, Rousseau. Bugger off." The red haired man did as he was bidden and stormed out of the room.

"He'll be disciplined, never fear," the moustached officer said softly, staring into Nadrin's tear-stained face. "I'm a soft hearted bastard really, but we need to get down to business. How long have you had eyes like that?"

Nadrin choked back her distress and answered. "All my life."

The officer frowned. "How? This has happened before?" Nadrin shooked her head, so he continued. "Are you infected by the program? Do you know what I'm talking about?" She nodded, still reluctant to talk. She struggled again against the handcuffs, trying to get comfortable. She cast a pleading look towards the officer, who hesitated. Finally he relented and released her hands. She held them in her lap and gently massaged her wrists to ease her circulation.

"If you are infected, why did you not leave last night, when the other 3 we captured did?" the officer pressed her.

"The Doctor, he gave me something to stop it." She held her left wrist up, with the Doctor's device still strapped to it.

"May I see, please?" he whispered softly, and Nadrin nodded. She removed the watch-like object and handed it to the officer.

"This Doctor - is he the Doctor from UNIT?" The officer watched as Nadrin nodded again. He sighed in relief.

"I'm so sorry - Nadine, was it? I can't quite remember."

"Nadrin."

"Sorry, Nadrin. The men were told to ask questions, then shoot - though like all men they seem to prefer things the other way round. They'll join Monsieur Rousseau in punishment. Do you mind if I keep this until the evening?"

Nadrin smiled, contrasting the tear stains on her cheeks. "Of course, sir, if you promise to return it. What happens now?"

The officer smiled. "I don't think I deserve the 'sir' - Clement will do. Lois is upstairs in the offices screaming blue murder - I think she's worried about you." Nadrin couldn't help grinning, and gratefully accepted Colonel Clement's offered handkerchief.

* * *

"Are you going to do something about or not?!" Lois demanded. The ONUR men around her did not reply, but instead turned to their superior, who just shrugged. Lois finally snapped and picked up a hole punch from the desk she was sitting on, preparing to throw it at his big, fat, stupid, french head - luckily, he was saved that particular indignity by Colonel Clement marching into the office. Lois rounded on him, a million arguments pre-prepared in her head, but choked on her words when a dishevelled Nadrin wandered into the room. Lois ran up to her and flung her arms around her. She held on for a while, surprised by Nadrin's lack of fight.

"What happened, Nadrin?" Lois asked, concern, fear and relief all evident in the wash of emotions that poured from her mouth.

"Some ONUR men took her, not realising who she was," Clement answered for her. "We've had a little chat about it - she's fine now, but very shaken up." Lois nodded gratefully at him, and released Nadrin, who gave a weak smile.

"What happened to your eye?" Lois whispered, noticing the bruise and the graze blemishing her cheek, just below her right eye.

Clement frowned. "Some of our men were a bit... ethusiastic. They won't be here much longer." He straightened his back and stroked his greying moustache. "We have work to do - I'll show you to the archives, Miss Habiba."

* * *

By the time Ianto awoke the sub had already submerged and they were on their way to the wreck. He rose from the bunk, careful not to hit his head on Jack's bunk above, and slipped out in the, well, room certainly wasn't the word, there was more room in Jack's underwear. Ianto sniggered to himself and replaced his tie, having removed it before his snooze.

"What are you laughing at?" Ianto jumped and blushed as the Doctor addressed him from a chair which had somehow been squeezed into the room. He had produced his fly fishing book again, but had his homburg pulled over his eyes.

"Do you never sleep?" Ianto asked, pulling some creases out of his shirt and tactfully changing the subject. The Doctor shook his head and stood up.

"I don't need it, I sleep only when ill, or drugged, or unconscious, or when I get bored of being awake." The Doctor gave a characteristic inane grin and left the room, heading for the control centre to meet Benton.

* * *

"We've spotted the site," Benton said to the Doctor as he arrived, despite not turning to acknowledge him. "It's pretty intact, the sub is prepared and so am I, where are those Torchwood sluggards?" On cue, Jack and Ianto hove into view, their packs strapped to their backs.

Benton snorted. "You won't need them. There's barely enough room in the sub for us, let alone 4 large packs of food. It'll be pretty cosy in there, but we're all adults." He cast a sidelong look at Jack and shuddered. Jack just looked indignant.

Quarter of an hour later and the microsub was making its way towards the crashed spacecraft. Ianto and Jack sat in the back seats, while Benton and the Doctor manned the controls. Ianto pointed at an opening in the hull - at least he tried to point, his arm instead ended up smacking Benton about the head. Benton turned and glared at him, but manouvered the craft through the opening anyway.

"This is a new one," Benton muttered as he propelled the sub carefully along a corridor in the spaceship, the sub grazing the walls either side.

"Any idea where the bridge will be?"

"Try the front," Jack suggested, and shifted in his seat, much to Ianto's annoyance. The Doctor grimaced as the craft pushed its way past mummifed remains of some Grixrans - their form was indistinguishable, what was left had been picked clean by the crabs and fish until just a sort of yellowish skeleton remained.

"That is truly digusting," Ianto murmured as they powered into a group of the dead aliens, the bodies collapsing into a heap of bones. There was an alarming scraping sound as the craft squeezed through a door and onto the bridge.

"Right, here we are," the Doctor announced. He hit a button on the dashboard of the sub, which caused a blinding white light to illuminate the area. The sightless sockets of several Grixran skulls stared back at them as Benton operated the robotic arms on the underside of the hub, gently shifting the remains until the control panel was accessible.

"Any idea what we're looking for, Doctor?" Jack asked, leaning forwards. The Doctor tried to turn but ended up bashing his head against Jack's.

"Argh, this is ridiculous. Why do we need these two again, Benton?"

"Ballast." Benton grinned and turned back to the control panel of the Grixran craft. "An answer would be helpful, though, Doctor. It'd be-" His words were cut of as a blast of energy left the console and hit the craft head on. The small sub rocked and turned, but repelled the blast sufficiently to keep the occupants safe.

"Everyone okay?" the Doctor asked, keeping his eye on where the wave had appeared from. Jack and Benton turned to Ianto as he let out a squeak of pain. Jack looked at him strangely. "What's up?"

Ianto gasped in air. "In an emergency your instincts seem to tell you to grab something totally inappropriate." Jack swiftly let go of Ianto's trousers.

The Doctor sighed and took control. "Riiight then... We now know where the controls that operate the beam are, so if we use a bit of delicasy and-" The Doctor sighed in exasperation as Benton directed the claw on the sub to the console and ripped the appropriate part to pieces.

"Well that was amazing." The Doctor sighed again, and turned the light off. "Can we get out of here now?"  
Benton hit the controls and the microsub propelled itself back to the main sub.

* * *

"This is a total and utter waste of time." Lois slammed a pile of papers down on the desk furiously, causing Nadrin to giggle. They'd been rifling through papers for what seemed like weeks with no result whatsoever - and why did the French seem so adverse to using a computer?!

"What were you hoping to find?" Nadrin asked, tidying some stray papers.

"I dunno really, something that would help." She turned as an ONUR member knocked at the door and handed another pile of sheets to Nadrin, who gently laid them atop of the ones Lois had deposited on the desk moments earlier.

"I swear, if he brings us any more paper, I will throttle him," Lois muttered and banged her head against a filing cabinet. Nadrin picked the uppermost report up.

"Will this help? Suspicious death in Cherbourg - name Marie Lambert, husband Renard is a fisherman." Lois grabbed the sheet off of her and smiled at last.

"Excellent, we're not empty handed. Let's get off to bed."

"Wait, I need to get my, err, thing off of the Colonel!" Nadrin said urgently, and dashed out of the room, confronting the nearest ONUR soldier.

"You, where's Colonel Clement?"

The man she addressed frowned. "He's not here, he's gone to-"

Lois swallowed hard.

"Oh, crap."

* * *

"Aaaaaaaahaha!" The Doctor looked sidelong at Jack, bemused by the odd noises he was making. Jack just turned to him and grinned.

"You gotta admit, it feels good to be above water at last." The Doctor grinned back, and nodded, stretching his cramped limbs. Ianto had already gone off somewhere in search of decent coffee - on the condition he bring some to Jack. The Doctor yawned widely and trudged into their accommodation block. He and Jack took out their keys and opened the doors to their respective rooms. Wearily the Doctor ambled inside and threw his homburg onto the far bed - judging by the mess, Nadrin's bed was the nearside one. Tidyness was something she seemed very reluctant to learn. The Doctor smiled to himself, and whirled round as he heard a sound behind him. He sighed in relief when he saw Nadrin standing there.

"Ah, you're back from Paris, good. Nice time?" he asked, before noticing the scratches on her face. "What happened?!" She said nothing, and the Doctor advanced a step. He saw the blood on her wrists and the redness around her eyes from where she had been crying, and clucked sympathetically.

"Oh Nadrin, you do get yourself into some scrapes." He reached out to give her a hug, and she smiled.

A triumphant, evil smile.

The Doctor leapt backwards, but could not prevent the blow to his chest. He fell to the floor with a sickeningly loud thud.

* * *

**REVIEWS MAKE LITERARY PIXIES SMILE, AND THEN THEY DO BE WRITINZ MORE QUICKLEEZ.**


	15. Chapter 15

**Alas! More interwebs problems! But if you're reading this, it means I overcame them, obviously. Enjoy this here chapter, as usual I apologise for any inaccuracies, but going to northern France for a spot or research isn't really a valid excuse to miss school =( Again, a slightly longer than average chapter, w00t!**

* * *

Ianto stood at the counter in the canteen, waiting as the woman lethargically made up 3 mugs of coffee. Despite knowing he could do it to an infinitely higher standard, and in half the time, Ianto kept his mouth shut, mainly out of politeness. And you never know, if he interrupted, the tired French woman might have done something horrible to their drinks. Not an unreasonable thought. After what seemed to be a few epochs he accepted the surprisingly warm mugs and forced a wide smile of thanks. The woman wrinkled her nose and shrugged in reply - what exactly this was meant to convey, Ianto neither knew nor cared. He left the canteen, taking a long draught from his mug as he went. The thick red carpet muffled his footsteps as he walked along the corridor to Jack's room - their room, actually, why should it be Jack's? Ianto paused as he heard a loud thud from the Doctor's room. He bit his lip, but decided to check it out once he had delivered Jack's coffee.

* * *

The Doctor yelped in shock and pain as he hit the hard wooden floor. Nadrin smiled widened further as she picked up a golf club from a bag to the side. She swung down towards the Doctor's head, but he rolled aside in the nick of time.

"Great, I get the room belonging to the only golfer in France," he muttered, rolling over again as the club smashed down beside his face. He swung his arms upwards to intercept the swing of the club as it came down towards his chest. He tightened his grip and snatched it away with a burst of brute force. Nadrin merely smiled at him and picked up another club, and brought it up above her head and prepared to strike down on the helpless body of the Doctor. She froze at a knock on the door.

"Doctor, I've brought some coffee," Ianto shouted through the door, the thick wood slightly obscuring his Welsh accent.

"IANTO, GET IN HERE QUICKLY!" the Doctor yelled, shuffling backwards before the program took full control again. Ianto tentatively tried the door handle, but the door was locked.

The Doctor growled at him angrily. "Come on, use your head!"

Ianto looked at the stout door doubtfully, straightened his tie and attempted to kick it down but only succeeded in causing himself quite some pain and leaving a rather nasty gash.

"HURRY UP!" The Doctor shouted, avoiding yet another swing from Nadrin.

"Leave this to the expert," Jack said as he arrived, and shifted Ianto to one side. He shoulder-barged the door forcefully, and it flew open. The two of them ran inside quickly, pulling out their guns.

"Don't shoot her, idiots!" the Doctor yelled, trapped in the corner as Nadrin aimed blows at him. Ianto dropped the now half empty and fully cold coffee mug to the floor in shock, and lowered his gun, yet Jack kept his Webley firmly centred on Nadrin's head.

"If you shoot her, Jack, you'll wish you couldn't live to regret it," the Doctor warned him as he ducked out of the way of a particularly violent swing.

"You're the main priority, Doctor, she doesn't matter-" Jack stopped suddenly as Ianto pulled out the taser ONUR had lent him and fired it towards Nadrin. She let out a shrill scream as the electricity surged through her body. The program relinquished its hold on her and she collapsed in a heap upon the Doctor, who sighed in relief, followed by pain as her descending elbow smacked him in the nose.

"Jack, you're a bloody idiot. Thank god Ianto has some sense."

Ianto turned and shrugged at Jack, who scowled back at him, before going over to help the Doctor from under Nadrin's senseless form.

"She seems to spend half her life unconscious," the Doctor mused, as they slipped her into bed, jumping slightly as the phone rang. The Doctor strode over to the phone on the chest of drawers nearest the window and answered it.

"Hello? Oh, it's you Lois. Yes, we know, she's here. No, it's fine, she's – for want of a better word – immobilised. I think you'd better come back here, as soon as– Yep, okay, I'll tell him. Bye." The Doctor sighed and put the phone down.

"She was just calling to say to expect Nadrin, an ONUR officer took her device thing, and didn't give it back in time." He frowned. "I should really name that bloody thing, I can't keep calling it 'the device thing'. It's a Brain Charge Replicator from now on."

Jack smiled at this, but then joined the Doctor in frowning. "Did Lois have a message for someone?"

The Doctor nodded. "Lois wishes to inform you that you're a total wanker." He picked up his fallen homburg and left the room.

Jack snorted. "I'll have words with Lois when she gets back."

Ianto suppressed a small smile. "You do know he made that up?"

Jack blinked a few times before replying. "Course."

* * *

Colonel Clement wasted no time in preparing transport back to Cherbourg for Lois. The same car that had taken her and Nadrin to Paris was ready outside the hotel, while she hurriedly threw things into her bag. She took the stairs to the foyer two at a time and practically tripped through the glass doors out onto the street, where luckily Clement was there to catch her before she hit the deck.

"Slow down, Lois, there's no fire," Clement said with a twinkle in his eye. Lois smiled in reply, and threw her bag into the back, along with Nadrin's. Luckily Nadrin hadn't unpacked - in fact she'd never got to the hotel at all. Lois shot Clement a questioning look, and indicated another two bags in the back.

"Rousseau's and mine. We're a sort of back-up." Clement opened the door for her, and Lois slid over to the middle seat, next to the imposing figure of Rousseau, his flame red hair visible beneath a black ONUR cap. He nodded at her, but gave her no other form of acknowledgment.

Clement sat on her other side and whispered into her ear. "He's sulking a bit - he knows this is his last mission before he's struck off - violent bastard."

Lois tried not to grin too obviously. "Surely that's a rather useful quality in a soldier?"

Clement disguised a snort as a cough. "Only if he saves it for the enemy." After this they fell silent, and eventually into a sleep as the Rolls headed out along the Autoroute to Cherbourg.

* * *

Nadrin woke next morning to find herself back in the General's lodgings in Cherbourg. She sat upright in horror, but relaxed when she saw herself tucked up in bed, with the Doctor resting on the bed by the window, hat over his eyes, as he often did. She slipped out from under the covers, and noticed that her skirt, tights and jumper had been removed, leaving her in just a t-shirt and underwear. Understandable, as her nightwear was still in Paris. The Doctor must have done it to make her more comfortable, she thought to herself. Well, she assumed it was the Doctor, it could have been Ianto, or Jack- She gulped at the thought of Jack and her sleeping body, and shuddered.

"Are you okay, Nadrin?" the Doctor asked, seeing her shiver from under his hat.

She nodded and smiled. "Fine, just a bit cold."

The Doctor nodded understandably. "Lois arrived with your bag at around five this morning, so you do have clothes to wear." He laughed as she smiled in relief. She blinked as tears threatened to spill down her cheeks, and ran over to the Doctor, throwing her arms around him in a hug.

"Blimey!" the Doctor exclaimed. "What's this for?"

"It keeps happening Doctor, and I'm frightened," Nadrin replied, shoulders shaking. "I'm so sorry, I really don't want to hurt you."

The Doctor smiled and held her tightly. "It's not your fault - if anyone's, it's mine."

Nadrin cuddled up closer. "But you're always saying how I should try to make more friends. How can I if I know it could kill them?"

The Doctor stroked her hair soothingly, as if brushing her worries away. "We'll sort it, don't fret."

Nadrin smiled and closer her eyes. "Thank you, Doctor. You know I love you, don't you?" She sat upright. "Not in that way, you know, like as a father, that sort of thing."

The Doctor chuckled. "I should hope so too! Now go and get dressed, it'll be breakfast in a couple of minutes."

* * *

Nadrin joined the breakfast table a few minutes after everyone else, looking none the worse for the previous day's events. The Doctor was already tucking into a huge breakfast of bacon and eggs, while the others were being rather stereotypical and munching on croissants. Nadrin eyed the bread-like items dubiously, and decided to stick with bacon. Black, Benton and Clement had joined them at the table, and were in deep discussion with Jack and the Doctor about something or the other. Ianto was working his way through a stack of French newspapers, seemingly eager to read them all while still under the TARDIS's influence. Lois was the only one to acknowledge her arrival.

"See you took the quick way here," she said with a smile, which Nadrin returned, with bacon rind hanging from her mouth. Lois raised an eyebrow and Nadrin giggled, spraying Jack with bits of half eaten food. He looked as his splattered coat in disgust, but stopped short of reprimanding Nadrin. The Doctor winked at her and she was hard pressed to stop herself giggling again. Eventually, Black addressed the whole group.

"Right then, a mixture of ONUR and UNIT scientists say they have found a way of removing the program from people's systems. Don't understand it myself, but they've tested it on one 'volunteer' first."

The Doctor looked outraged. "You tested this thing without consulting me first?! But I'm UNIT's scientific advisor! I was solving sciencey things before your mother's mother was even walking!" He frowned. "Bad analogy for a time traveller, but you get the idea."

Benton placed a placating hand on his shoulder. "They're sure it will work, and if it doesn't, well, it's only tested on one person. Thousands have died in France alone - taking one life would be worth protecting the thousands more that could potentially die."

The Doctor snorted in disgust. "Or you could have contained the situation and had no deaths at all."

Black stared sternly at him. "No-one's died yet, and the chances are no-one will."

"Pfft. This is UNIT we're talking about here - what can go wrong will go wrong."

"Well we'll find out this evening," Black said, and turned back to his breakfast, clearly signalling the end of the conversation.

* * *

"Get out of it, Ceirwen!" Greg ducked as the pteranadon swooped down and stole the slice of seafood pizza from his hand. Andy swatted at it with an empty pizza box - the contents already purloined.

"I thought it was barbecue sauce that marked their food?" he asked, diving out the way as Ceirwen took the last pizza from the stack.

Anna sniffed. "Well this one seems more attracted to tomato sauce - Jack could at least have chosen to capture one which had a penchant for tartar sauce."

"Well, he didn't!" Greg said exasperatedly as Ceirwen instead began to search the empty pizza boxes. She came across a scrap of Andy's four seasons, and devoured it.

"Do you reckon Jack knew about this and wanted to annoy us?" Andy asked, helping Greg back to his feet.

"Doubt it," Greg replied, nervously checking himself for tomato stains. "He doesn't hate us." The backdraft from the pteranadon's wings caused him to stagger forward until he fell against Anna. To his surprise she helped him back to his feet and kept hold of his arm.

"We'll have to go out for food, but we can't leave the Hub unguarded... Andy, you're on first duty." Anna turned on her heel and ran from the Hub, dragging Greg along with her, laughing at Andy's indignant protests.

* * *

The Doctor and Nadrin arrived back at base at around nine in the evening, having been walking round the surrounding villages, them having nothing to do until nightfall when they could test out the scientists' theory. Nadrin turned off her camera and placed in her jacket pocket, but stopped dead as she felt a hand on her shoulder. She turned around to see Clement standing behind her.

"I've still got your Brain Charge Replicator," he said, fishing about in his pocket.

Nadrin frowned. "My what?"

Clement produced the afore-mentioned device. "This thing - I think the Doctor said he'd called it a Brain Charge Replicator." Nadrin's eyes lit up in recognition, and she gratefully accepted the device from him. She gave him a warm smile and turned to the Doctor.

"I wish you'd stop naming things and not telling me," she said, clipping the BCR back to her wrist.

The Doctor frowned. "When have I done that before?"

"You know, when you started calling the TARDIS key a 'Manually Operated Lock Manipulator'."

Clement chortled as the Doctor coughed, as if glossing over the subject.

Nadrin turned back to Clement with a smile, and shook him heartily by the hand. "Thank you for taking care of me, Colonel. I like you."

The Doctor tripped suddenly and crashed into the wall. "Did you just confess friendship to another person, Nadrin? Oh, I'm so proud of you!" He threw his arms around her in a fatherly fashion, only managing to grab hold of her head. She bit him and he let go hastily, rubbing his nipped arm.

"Okay, maybe bit of a way to go." He smiled at Clement. "Just so you know, Nadrin saying she likes you is akin to a marriage proposal from Laetitia Casta." Clement blushed, causing the Doctor to laugh aloud.

* * *

The ward was dimly lit, the only light coming from a few naked light bulbs hanging from the ceiling. Black, Clement, Benton and the Torchwood five were gathered around one bed - the sign hanging from the bedpost read Renard Lambert. This was the man chosen to be tested, and was just falling asleep. The other thirteen patients in the ward were wired up, and they had been in that state ever since the Doctor had suggested it - though he hadn't suggested they be drugged up to their eyeballs and fed through tubes.

Renard shifted suddenly, his eyes alight with pain.

"What did you do to him?" the Doctor demanded as Black and Clement held the struggling man's arms.

"They removed some blood from the carotid arteries to stop the program running, corrupt it a bit," Benton said, watching wide eyed from the sideline.

The Doctor gave an indistinguishable shout of rage. "IDIOTS. What have you done, you complete, BLOODY, IDIOTS!?" Black and Clement fell forwards as Renard gave a tormented shriek and dissolved into atoms.

"Outside, he won't have gone far, the program's too corrupted," he shouted back over his shoulder as he ran from the room. The others followed in his wake.

Outside, they heard the shout of a soldier, horribly cut off, like a switch had been flicked.

"What's going on?" the Doctor yelled as he left the building. One UNIT man ran up and saluted.

"Green eyed man, attacked our troops."

The Doctor frowned. "Was it anyone in particular?"

The UNIT man shook his head. "No, it was indiscriminate." Black shook his head and grunted in frustration.

"We need to find him and take him out - we've failed. The program's corrupted, he'll attack anyone now." He spun round as Nadrin screamed in terror. He whirled round to see Renard dragging Nadrin towards him by her hair, holding a UNIT bayonet. He raised it to stab down into her chest, but his arm was suddenly knocked aside as someone flung themselves onto him. Nadrin pulled herself free as her saviour pulled himself up and stood facing Renard, blocking him from reaching the others.

Nadrin screamed at his turned back. "No, Clement, come back! You can't stop him!"

Clement gasped as the bayonet took him through the stomach.

**

* * *

**

Oh no!

**(For Flinch) Does this mean that Clement/Lois will never happen now? BWAHAHA!**

**Hope you liked it – and pleeeaaasssseee review. I AM LITERALLY ON MY KNEES, BUT THAT'S DUE TO ME DROPPING SOMETHING, THEN NOT BOTHERING TO GET BACK ON THE CHAIR AFTERWARDS.**

**Oh, and Laetitia Casta is a supermodel - very big in France. No, I'd not heard of her either.**

**Anyway, back to what I SHOULD be doing, i.e. Russian homework D=**


	16. Chapter 16

**I wanted to be in bed by now. Bleh. Bloody failly interwebs and homeworks and taking ages to write. Back to late night writing and uploads, something I'd wanted to avoid during school time. That didn't last very long.**

**And CA - it's the 12th Doctor, not the 7th. 12 isn't too far removed from 7 though, except 7 has a panama hat and 12 has a homburg XD**

* * *

Clement sank to his knees as Renard ripped the bayonet out of his stomach, raised the weapon above his head and prepared to stab down into Clement's chest. Clement closed his eyes and prepared for the fatal stab, shutting his ears to Nadrin's desperate screaming. He opened his eyes and stared defiantly up at Renard, who smiled crookedly. Clement smiled coldly back at him as Renard stabbed down towards his throat, but the blow never came. Clement flinched as the blade instead connected with something red that flashed in front of his face. Renard looked down at Clement in confusion, the smile fading, then down at the prone form of Rousseau. The soldier had a deep gash in his throat, blood streaming out and staining his dark green uniform. Clement stared in horror as Rousseau gurgled horribly, spat some blood from his between his teeth and fell back, his eyes closing.

Unnoticed by the others, Nadrin rose and charged towards Renard, just as he was about to finish off Clement. Renard turned his leer to her, which turned to a look of blissful ignorance as Nadrin thrust a syringe full of her iron mix into his abdomen. Renard crumpled and fell backwards, mercifully avoiding the injured form of Clement, who was laying back on the damp grass. Nadrin fell to her knees and took his hand.

He smiled weakly at her. "Couldn't let him have you, Nadrin," he chucked, before coughing a small amount of blood into his kerchief.

"Should have kept running, sir!" Nadrin whispered, trying desperately to hide her tears from the colonel. "We would have found a way to stop him somehow."

Clement shook his head. "Would have, could have, should have. I hate it when people reflect on what could have happened. Stay in the present, life becomes much clearer."

Nadrin couldn't help but snort in mirthless laughter at the irony, but stopped suddenly as she felt a hand on her shoulder. She turned to look up into the Doctor's grey eyes.

"Come away now Nadrin, we need to get him to the hospital wing. He'll have no chance unless we get him there now."

Nadrin nodded, and watched as the Doctor and Jack gently lifted Clement, who was by now unconscious. Ianto, Black and Benton carried Rousseau's fallen body to the morgue between the three of them. Nadrin accompanied them mindlessly, along with Lois, who was keeping unusually quiet.

* * *

The UNIT and ONUR medics had started their work with Clement straight away, and shooed Jack and the Doctor out of the room. He had been placed in Renard's bed - the infected man had been destroyed like a guinea pig that had surpassed its usefulness. The Doctor gave an angry snort, and Jack turned to him, one eyebrow raised.

The Doctor merely shook his head. "So much death and so much dying. And what for? Nothing." He ground his teeth together as he said the last word, and stormed off to his room.

* * *

It was dark in the morgue - there were no lights to illuminate the scene, other than the moonlight streaming in through the window, despite the curtains being closed. They must be made of the same material used in the bedrooms, Nadrin mused, unable to tear her eyes away from Rousseau. Humans were a real mystery to her - such a violent hateful bastard, then making a final sacrifice to save his superior, and her friend. She tried to hate him for what he did to her, but couldn't. Nor could she love him for saving Clement - she just felt nothing. Her heart was empty.

Lois gently took her hand and led her from his bedside, and they wearily wandered back towards their rooms. Nadrin smiled gratefully at Lois as she slipped into the Doctor's and her room, and carefully closed the door behind her. She automatically ambled into the bathroom and began to get prepared for bed. She need a good sleep - not one caused by being electrocuted or hit by something. A nice, natural sleep. She slipped herself between the covers, yawned and curled up, closing her eyes and giving a contented sigh.

The door burst open, and the Doctor charged in.

"Nadrin, I've got it, I've solved it, I know what to do! Get up, we've got work to do!"

"FUCK OFF!"

* * *

It was a angry and miserable Nadrin that stormed into the TARDIS a few minutes later. She hadn't bothered to get dressed again, simply putting a bathrobe on over her nightdress. The Doctor wasn't in the main console room; he must have gone to the laboratory without her. She sniffed and made her way deep inside the TARDIS, her bare feet hitting the floor slightly harder than was necessary.

"Ah, you're here at last!" the Doctor said as she finally traipsed in. The lab had always fascinated her, all the chemicals stored in neatly labelled boxes, the equipment in the cupboards beneath. Currently the Doctor was fiddling about with the computer at the far end of the room. A microscope sat beside the computer, a Petri dish full of a thin layer of what seemed to be blood under the lens.

Nadrin frowned and reached out to touch the sample. "Whose blood is this?"

The Doctor gasped and stayed her hand. "It's Renard's, but don't touch it. Everything's finely balanced!" He looked back to the screen, frowned and picked up the Petri dish. Nadrin sighed and shivered, now regretting not putting some clothes on.

"What's this amazing solution you've come up with? I warn you, it'd better be ingenious, or that bottle of hydrogen peroxide will mysteriously find its way into your eyes," Nadrin growled menacingly.

The Doctor continued to poke the Petri dish, not intimidated. "Write a program that stops the other program running."

Nadrin opened her mouth to spit her already prepared venomous retort, but swallowed it back. "Okay, I'll admit it, that's not a bad idea. So, how are you going to program this?"

"Using ingenuity and couple of Renard's lymphocytes."

"Lympho-what?"

"White blood cells, well, one type. I'm simply going to tell them to run a program which does nothing. But it'll run at a higher voltage than the Grixran program, and will therefore run earlier, but it will keep the brain activity constant at a level where the Grixran program cannot run."

"And how are you programming it?"

"Technology I picked up from 59th century humans - they had complete control over genetics by then. I write the program as if I were writing a computer program, and this fine machine to my left writes that data into the cell nucleus." He paused, fingers hovering over the keyboard, before continuing. "I can't leave the program entirely blank, something has to happen, but what could I do to keep the brain activity up?"

Nadrin smiled through a loud yawn. "Give them particularly vivid and lucid dreams."

The Doctor grinned inanely as usual and patted her on the head. Ignoring her attempts to bite his fingers off he moved his hands back to the keyboard. "What could I make them dream of..?" He smiled more broadly and tapped a finger to the side of his head. "Got it. I'll sell it as advertising space." He yelped as Nadrin hit him in the lower back.

"Make them dream of Cherbourg or something. Nothing too surreal, or they'll get suspicious."

"Their eyes are bright green and they've been killing their families. I think they're already suspicious."

"Jack says he'll retcon them, or something like that. They'll forget."

The Doctor tutted. "I hate it when Jack thinks he can mess with people's minds like that."

"Err, Doctor?"

"Yes, oh small one of great beauty and even greater ferocity?"

She pointed to the lines of coding on the computer screen. "Not ironic at all, is it?"

The Doctor sniffed. "No similarity at all." He failed to suppress a chuckle.

* * *

Nadrin woke up in her lovely soft bed - she'd got her well deserved rest, albeit a few hours shorter than she'd hoped for. She whacked the beeping alarm clock with her hand and it stopped its annoying drone - had she broken it? Probably. Who cared anyway, annoying thing.

She rose, crossed to the bathroom and washed, before leaving the room and making her way to the medical wing. She was surprised to see the room full of people - Jack, Ianto, Black, Benton, the Doctor and a variety of medical staff were all there.

Nadrin stopped dead. "What's going on?"

Ianto replied, but didn't look up from his PDA. "We're administering the lymphocytes with the Doctor's program written on them."

Nadrin raised her eyebrows in alarm. "Surely it's got to be tested first, look at what happened to Renard!"

The Doctor chuckled. "I have tested it. Do you remember taking off your BCR this morning?"

Nadrin slowly shook her head, before realisation struck her. "You tested it on me?! You absolute bastard!"

The Doctor looked mournfully at Clement, who was sitting up in a bed. "I've just saved millions, nay trillions of lives, and she calls me a bastard. You humans really are an ungrateful lot." Clement chuckled, but doubled up in pain. Nadrin forgot her anger and ran to his bedside.

"Are you okay, sir?" she asked softly, her eyes showing something the Doctor hadn't seen there before - concern and compassion.

"I'm fine, miss," Clement lied, and sat up again. "By this evening I'll be right as rain."

Nadrin couldn't help but smile at his bravery. "I know you're lying, sir. Living with the Doctor, you've got to be good at differentiating fact and fiction." Clement smiled at her and closed his eyes.

"Could I ask one thing, Nadrin?" He paused as she nodded. "I'd like to die outside. I'd like to see the stars when I go - that's where I'm headed after all."

Nadrin nodded and held his hand tightly. "I promise."

* * *

The winter wind was bitingly cold on the south coast of England. Five figures watched as the ferry was unloaded of cargo, conversing in shouts above the wind.

"Well, I guess I'll see you next time UNIT can't cope!" Jack yelled, getting a mouthful of snowflakes in return.

Benton grinned. "Yeah right, and the same to you." He shook Jack's hand as warmly as the weather would allow. Jack pulled his hand back and grabbed him in a hug instead.

"Make sure you get back to London without any major issues, unless you'd like me to give you a lift?"

"Benton shuddered. "No thanks - I've got no idea what you get up to at Torchwood, but I don't think I like it." Jack and Ianto laughed.

Black took Ianto's hand and shook it. "Nice working with you, take care of yourself now." Ianto and Jack waved as the two men stepped into a UNIT car are were driven off in the direction of London.

Lois turned to Jack in confusion. "How do we get back to Cardiff...?"

"Anna said she'd arrange some transport for us, lap of luxury she said, no-" Jack halted as the taxi pulled up, and a rather disgruntled Welshman emerged.

"Oi! Are you three 'Turchwad'?"

Ianto frowned. "Torchwood."

"Whatever! Hurry up, I'm freezing me nuts off here!" Jack grinned and pulled Ianto by the arm into the taxi.

* * *

The giant cog rolled back to reveal the three Torchwood members, none the worse for their taxi journey. Jack's plans for a grand entrance were immediately scuppered when he found the Hub seemingly empty.

"Where are they..?"

Ianto frowned and walked in. He immediately ducked as an apple flew over head and hit the wall behind him. Greg appeared, seemingly running after the apple. He stopped suddenly when he saw Ianto, and chuckled.

"Uh, sorry. We were... doing something. Nice time in France?" Lois and Jack stared in bemusement as Anna and Andy appeared, holding a stack of shredded pizza boxes.

"We've had a great time, actually... What on Earth have you been up to here?" Jack asked, still looking at the boxes.

"Oh this and that, you know," Andy said, nearly dropping his pile. "Where's that Doctor and his friend gone?"

Lois giggled as Andy finally lost control of the boxes and dropped them everywhere. "They left in that police box again, they said to give you their regards." Greg nodded at her, then passed a pizza box to Jack.

"Little homecoming present."

Jack opened the box. "Cheese and tomato, my, err, third favourite. With extra tomato sauce, I see..." He yelled out in shock as Ceirwen ripped the pizza from his hands.

* * *

Clement stretched and yawned as he woke up. He found himself still lying on a hospital bed, but he was outside. But where though..?

He looked up at the night sky. It made a change being able to see the stars - too much light pollution in Paris. He frowned as he spotted the moon. Moons, actually...

"Yep, three moons," the Doctor said softly, materialising out of the thick gloom. "One blue, one green, one magenta."

Clement sat upright. "Where are we?"

Nadrin joined them from the TARDIS, situated behind Clement's bed. "Erythrae. One of my favourites of the places we've visited. I wanted you to see it." Clement smiled, then gasped as the green moon suddenly exploded.

The Doctor chuckled, noting his shocked expression. "Does that a lot. It'll reform in a couple of minutes."

Clement lay back and smiled. "It's very pretty." Nadrin laughed happily, the mixed light from the moons playing across her pretty smile.

Clement closed his eyes and thought of the moons. How beautiful they were, how unearthly - no surprise there. He gave a contented sigh, and silenty slipped off to join them.

**THE END**

* * *

**Alas, but the tale has finished, the book is closed. Though it isn't, I'm writing the prequel/sequel next. Prequel as in it's set BEFORE this in Jack's view, but AFTER this in The Doctor's view. So some lovely timeywhimey nonsense - and it's being cowritten with Flinch, so it should turn out very interesting.**

**I really hope you enjoyed this little story, hiding in the Fourteen AU from our own huge universe - but I'll be back! At some point...**

**Watch out in Flinch's fic for 'One Good Reason' - or on my account, where the next project is the Doctor first meeting Nadrin.**

**Bubye for now - and leave some lovely reviews - the more I get, the quicker I'll get writing again.**


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